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SOCIAL  DYNAMITE; 

OR,  THE 

Wickedness  of  Modern  Sdgiety 


FROM  THE  DISCOURSES  OF 


T.  DeWITT  talmage,  d.  d. 

Author  of  ''Masque  Torn  Off;"  "Live  Coals;"  "Foes  of  Society; 
"Traps  for  Men;"  "Night  Sides  of  City  Life;"  "Sports 
that  Kill;"  "Crumbs  Swept  Up,"  Etc. 


BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCH  AND  COLLATION  BY 

FRANCES  POST  VAN  NORSTRAND,  A,  B. 

Author  of  "Life's  Ideal;"  "Sunshine,"  Etc, 


ILLUSTRATED. 


CHICAGO: 

STANDARD  PUBLISHING  COMPANY. 

St.  Lours:  Columbia  Publishing  Co.      Detroit,  Mich.:  R.  D.  S.  Tyler  &  Co 
Oakland,  Cal.:  Arthur  E.  Whitney.    Fond  du  Lac,  Wis.:  G.  L.  Benjamin. 
Kansas  City,  Mo.:  Kansas  City  Publishing  Co. 
Harbisbubg,  Pa.  :  Pennsylvania  Pub.  Co. 


1888. 


COPYRIGHTED  BY 
P.  VAN  NORSTKAND. 

1887. 


PREFACE. 


Dr.  Talmage,  in  many  respects,  stands  at  the  head 
of  American  pulpit  orators,  and  none  excel  him  in  dra- 
matic force.  He  is  one  of  the  few  who  dares  lift  his 
voice  against  the  wickedness  of  modern  society  wher- 
ever found,  sparing  neither  friend  nor  foe,  rich  nor  poor. 
In  a  clarion  voice  he  sounds  a  note  of  warning,  and 
designates  the  only  way  to  escape  the  pits  of  darkness 
and  social  and  moral  ruin. 

A  fearless  antagonist  to  all  forms  of  sin ;  he  cares 
more  for  cleaving  a  helmet  than  for  showing  the  jewels 
on  the  handle  of  his  weapon.  Blows  are  what  he  gives. 
He  does  not  know  how  to  soften  a  denunciation  or  kid- 
glove  a  lie,  cheat  or  sham.  Strong  in  imagination, 
happy  in  word-painting,  he  arrays  the  most  common 
truths  in  all  the  freshness  of  new  discoveries,  and  all 
the  glow  of  living  reality.  To  this  is  added  a  quick  in- 
sight into  human  nature,  and  the  foibles,  vices  and 
iniquities  of  the  present  day.  The  Gospel  is  presented 
by  him  as  the  only  remedy  for  human  corruption.  In 
all  he  says  and  does  he  is  swayed  by  an  over-mastering 
Christian  earnestness. 

America  is  given  a  proud  place  among  the  nations 
of  the  earth ;  at  the  same  time  things  are  pointed  outer 
which,  if  they  are  not  suppressed,  will  bring  disaster, 
upon  the  country.    Municipal  law,  it  is  shown,  will 

(3) 


IV  PREFACE. 

be  a  dead  letter,  and  political  reform  impossible,  so 
long  as  Christains  are  apathetic  and  politically  negli- 
gent, and  fail  to  aid  those  in  authority  by  personally 
urging  reform  and  standing  by  it  in  the  name  of  Christ. 

This  work  contains  nearly  fifty  chapters,  on  as  many 
different  subjects ;  they  are,  from  beginning  to  end,  of 
peculiar  interest  to  every  American,  and  stamped  with 
the  extraordinary  individuality  of  this  remarkable  man. 
Every  page  burns  with  an  eloquent  entreaty  for  a  better 
and  purer  life,  and  possesses  an  intense,  soul-absorbing 
interest  to  all  who  desire  the  advancement  and  higher 
development  of  the  human  race. 


CONTENTS. 


PREFACE   III. 

BIOGKAPHY. 


Dr.  Talmage's  Birthplace— His  Parents— Traits  of  Each— The 
Weekly  Prayer-Meeting — DeWitt's  Boyhood — A  Professional  Ca- 
reer Desired — Preparation  for  College — His  Alma  Mater — Meri- 
torious Graduation— A  Christian  at  Twenty — Enters  a  Theological 
Seminary— His  Early  Pastoral  Life — At  Belleville,  N.  J. — At  Syra- 
cuse, N.  Y. — At  Philadelphia — Moves  to  Brooklyn — Church  Arch- 
itecture Kevolutionized — The  New  Structure-  As  a  Lecturer — His 
Qualities — A  Visit  to  England — Immense  Enthusiasm — The 
World's  Criticism — How  Ministers  Are  Lied  About — A  Descrip- 
tion of  Dr.  Talmage  as  an  Orator — His  Voice — His  Power — Judg- 
ment of  His  Generation — The  Penalty  of  Being  a  Leader  25 


CHAPTER  I. 

TWO  HIGHWAYS. 

Edward  and  Nicholas  Leaving  Home— Journey  to  Depot— The 
Good-Bye— Arrival  in  the  Great  City— Edward  Enters  Business 
Life — The  Country  Greenhorn — Making  Acquaintances — Home- 
sickness—The First  Temptation— At  the  Theater— Finances  Ex- 
hausted— The  Gaming  Table — Drinking— Loss  of  Position — 
From  Bad  to  Worse — Five  Years  Later — No  Letters  at  Home — 
The  Father  Visits  the  City — Edward  Wounded  and  a  Physical 
Wreck — Nicholas  Too  Enters  Business — Industrious— Prosperous 
and  Honored— Happily  Married— A  Beautiful  Home— The  Temp- 
ter Baffled— The  Forks  of  the  Road— The  Two  Highways— Which 

Will  You  Take?  37 

(v) 


VI 


CONTENTS. 


CHAP  TEE  II. 

EVIL  COMPANIONS. 

No  One  Goes  to  Kuin  Alone— A  Convicted  Criminal's  Words- 
Bad  Company— Olden  Times— Places  of  Business— A  Challenge— 
A  Keward  Offered— New  Clerk — Show  Him  the  City — Forgotten 
his  Pocket-Book— Familiarity— Broken  In — Beware — Glance  of 
Purity— Shun  the  Skeptic— '  'Explain  That"— Take  them  All— He 
has  Gone! — Shun  Idlers — His  Touch  is  Death — "I  Want  You, 
Sir" — Self-Improvements — The  Harvest  Gathered  in  Old  Age — 
Avoid  Perpetual  Pleasure- Seekers — Life  Occupation  to  Sport — 
A  Beauty  in  Sports — Declaration  of  Brummel— Review— Always 
be  Polite — A  Beautiful  Daughter  50 

CHAP  TEE  III. 

DARK  DEEDS. 

Night -Watchman— The  Ancients'  Division  of  the  Night — The 
First  Watch — Closing  the  Stores — Evening  Eepasts — The  Second 
Watch — Places  of  Amusement — The  Third  Watch  Begins — The 
City  Sleeps— City  Missionaries — Physician  in  Haste — The  Vicious 
Poor — The  Christian  Poor — Beastliness  and  Eags — TheCriminal's 
Watch — Born  Thieves — The  Neglected — Gambling  and  Gam- 
blers— Seeing  the  City — High  Circles  of  Society — Common  Sense 
in  Christian  Work-  The  Gambler's  Burial — A  Destroyed  Soul's 
Eternity  61 

CHAPTEE  IV. 

THE  BABYLONIAN  FEAST. 

Feasting— Entertaining  Queen  Elizabeth— Cardinal  Wolsey's 
Banquet— Night  at  Babylon— Amusements  of  the  City — Eoyal 
Feast— From  all  the  Earth— More  Wine— Wilder  Music— Princes 
Eeeling— Writing  on  the  Wall— Daniel  Beads—  Assyrians  take 
Advantage  of  the  Carousal— Massacre  Eushes  In— The  Dead 
King— Eead  as  Written— Hugh  Latimer— Banquet  of  Sin— The 
Cup  is  Full  of  Poison  77 

CHAPTEE  V. 

HIGH  LICENSE. 

High  License  the  Monopoly  of  Abomination— A  Point  in  Ee- 
formatory  Movements  Reached— Income  for  High  License — A 


CONTENTS. 


Complete  Surrender  to  the  Rum  Traffic — Making  Rumselling  Re- 
spectable— Closing  the  Small  Establishments — Striking  at  the 
Hearts  of  the  Best  Homes — It  is  Anti- American — Rights  Invaded 
— Why  Not  Stop  other  Small  Dealers  ? — Other  Laws  that  are  a 
Dead  Letter— Court  Scene — Anti-Common  Sense— The  Working 
People — Prohibition  Laws — An  Old  Carcass — What  a  Cheat — No 
Truce—The  Sides  Arrayed  Against  Each  Other— Fight  the  Battle 
Out— The  Balance  of  Power— Its  Overthrow  Certain  91 


CHAPTER  VI. 

IN  TEMPERANCE. 

Noah  Introduced  the  Deluge  of  Drunkenness — Unhealthful 
Stimulants — The  Arch-Fiend's  Cauldron  of  Temptation — Great- 
est Evil  of  this  Nation-  Statistics— Born  with  a  Thirst  for  Strong 
Drink — The  Last  Will  of  the  Drunkard — Bitters — Circulars  of  a 
Brewers'  Association — A  National  Evil — Suffering  Mothers  and 
Children — Death's  Hand — The  Drunkard's  Home — The  Boast  of 
Protagoras — Political  Parties  Afraid— The  Church— Teetolism.  101 

CHAPTER  VII. 

MOEMONISM. 

Political  Parties — Mormonism — A  Great  Evil— Necessity  of  Im- 
mediate Settlement  of  the  Question — Bigamy  Punished — Polyg- 
amy Unpunished — A  Plank  Anti-Mormonistic  Wanted — Immi- 
gration of  Mormons — Intermarriage  of  Nationalites — What  Are 
We  Doing— What  Is  Demanded — The  Platforms  of  Political 
Parties— God's  Country— Prayer  Answered— Four  Doxologies.  .113 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

DIVORCE. 

Infelicitous  Homes — Divorce — Free  Love  Advocates — Mormon- 
ism— A  Positive  Law  now  on  the  Statute  Books- -A  Pustulous  Lit- 
erature— The  Laws  of  the  States — The  Record  by  States— Easy 
Divorce  and  Dissoluteness  Twin  Brothers— What  we  Want — Dis- 
satisfaction no  Cause  for  Divorce—Constitutional  Amendment— 


VIII 


CONTENTS. 


Make  Divorce  Difficult — Eigorous  Laws — A  Divine  Eage  Against 
all  Enemies  of  the  Marriage  State — Paradise  Eegained  123 

CHAPTEE  IX. 

PROFANITY,  DRUNKENNESS,  AND  THE  SOCIAL  EVIL. 

Procession  to  Carry  the  Ark— Battle  Cry — Oliver  Cromwell— 
The  Name  of  a  Christian  Reformer — God  First — Abominations 
Gone  •  Far  Enough — Pre-eminent  for  Blasphemy — Boy  Struck 
Dead — Death  of  Blasphemers — One  of  the  Gigantic  Crimes — 
Drunkenness — Increase  of  Saloons— Bitters — Treating  Customers 
— Explosions  of  Social  Life — Impure  Life — Watering  Places — 
"  White  Cross"  Movement — Miss  Francis  E,  Willard — Every  Two 
Thousand  Years — "Let  God  Arise.''  132 

CHAPTER  X. 

GAMBLING. 

"The  Field  of  Blood  "—Gambling  Spirit— Pertinent  to  All- 
Instruments  Differ — London  Business  Life — No  New-Born  Sprite 
— St.  Paul's  Cathedral — Laws  Denounce  the  System — Derby  Day — 
A  Traveler  Through  the  West — Games  in  Themselves  Without 
Harm — Unheal thful  Stimulants — A  Young  Man  Kicked  Out- 
Kills  Industry — John  Borack — Paris  Gaming  Houses — World  is 
Robbed — Source  of  Dishonesty — No  Chance — It  Peoples  Prisons 
and  Lunatic  Asylums — Home  Loses  All  Charms — Stakes  His 
Crown  of  Heaven — An  Only  Son  at  New  Orleans— His  Last  Letter 
— "  Foul !  Foul !" — Church  Fairs — Betting — Bad  Company — Game 
of  Cards— The  Gambler's  Death  Bed  144 

CHAPTER  XI. 

SUICIDE. 

Honorable  in  Olden  Time — Demonsthenes  and  Others — Ameri- 
can Conscience  Needs  Toning  Up— Defaulters —Apologetic  for 
the  Crime — Christians  who  Commit  Self-Destruction — Hugh 
Miller — Dr.  Chalmers-  Straight  into  Perdition — Custodian  of 
Your  Life— Suicide  on  the  Increase — Infidelity  and  Agnosticism 
the  Cause— Teachings  of  Infidelity — Lecture  on  Socialism — 
David  Hume— Rivers  Full  of  Corpses— Shakespeare's  Appreciation 


CONTENTS. 


IX 


of  the  Future  Existence— Coroner's  Verdict— Tempted  to  Quit— 
God  Keeps  the  Chronology — Israelites  Free — Time  Up — A  Sor- 
rowless  World  163 

CHAPTER  XII. 

IMMORAL  LITERATURE . 

Ephesus— Paul's  Firebrands — Harmful  Literature — A  Big  Bon- 
fire—Insufferable Trash— The  Mighty  Agency  of  the  Press— New 
York  Editors — Chief  Means  of  the  World's  Rescue — The  Victims 
of  Unclean  Literature — What  Shall  We  Read  ? — Make  an  Intelli- 
gent Choice — Novel  Reading — Popular  Writers — Stand  Aloof- 
False  Pictures  of  Human  Life—  An  Admixture  of  Good  and  Evil — 
An  Incident — Corrupt  Imaginations  Inflame  the  Passions — 
Apologists  of  Crime — Making  Impurity  Decent — Crime  Attrac- 
tive— Hypocrisy  Noble — Publishers  Who  Publish — Picture  of  the 
Indiscriminate  Novel  Reader — Testimony  of  Sufferers — Lascivi- 
ous Pictorial  Literature — Death  Warrants  of  the  Soul — Poison — 
Moral  Strychnine — Cherish  Good  Books  and  Newspapers — Avoid 
Bad  Ones  171 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

FOES  OF  SOCIETY. 

Breaking  in  Upon  God's  Heritage — Uprooting  and  Devouring 
Classes  of  Society — Public  Criminals — Their  Immense  Cost — 
Conflagration  of  Morals — ' '  Stop  Thief  !"— Society  has  a  Grudge 
Against  Criminals — Punishment  Hardens  Them — More  Potential 
Influences  Needed — Raymoad  Street  Jail — Black  Hole  of  Cal- 
cutta— Old  and  Hardened  Offenders — Young  Men  Who  Have 
Committed  their  First  Crime— Sir  William  Blackstone— Unworthy 
Officials— '*  Whisky  Ring  "— "  Tammany  Ring"— "Erie  Ring"— 
Fences— Skinners— Confidence  Men— The  Idle  Classes— Useless 
and  Dangerous — Oppressed  Poor— Army  of  Honest  Poor— Chil- 
dren's Aid  Society — Dorcas  Society  182 


CHAPTER  XIV. 

THE  THEATER. 


Progression  of  the  World— Great  Actors— Secular  Newspa- 
per Criticism— Depraved  Advertisements— Importation  of  Bad 


X 


CONTENTS. 


Morals — Degenerate  Players—An  Awful  Decadence — East  Lynne 
— No  Moral  Elevation  in  the  Modern  Play — The  Drama — An 
Echo  of  the  Human  Soul— Advice  to  Young  Men— Freshen  up 
Your  Work — Avoid  Being  Led  into  Sin  202 

CHAPTER  XV. 

RIGHT  AND  WRONG  AMUSEMENTS. 

The  Line  Drawn— Healthful  Kesult— Baleful  Keaction— The 
People  most  Easily  Tempted — Pernicious  Amusements— Recrea- 
tion well  Spent— Whooping  and  Bloated  Sons — Crimes  Commit- 
ted—Lawful Expenditures — Sinful  Indulgences — Unrestrained 
Amusement — Who  Cares? — Killed — Nothing  to  Do — Sports  That 
are  Helps— Bad  Company — The  Wayward  Husband— The  Prom- 
ise— Five  Rules  Given — Testimony  of  Dr.  Hatfield — Ministers  at 
the  Theater— Choose  This  Day-—  213 

CHAPTER  XVI. 

DANCING. 

Dancing — The  Round  Dance— Dancing  Universal — Ancient 
Dancing— Present  Custom — God  Bless  the  Young — An  Abettor 
of  Pride — Physical  Ruin — From  Ball  Room  to  Graveyard — Use- 
fulness Spoiled — A  Belittling  Process — An  Incident — Earnest 
Work— A  Vast  Multitude  Destroyed  224 

CHAPTER  XVII. 

SOCIETY  WOMEN. 

Solid  Satisfaction — An  Error  Corrected — Albert  Barnes — 
Plant  one  Grain  of  Corn— Mere  Social  Position— Do  not  Covet 
it — A  Worldly  Marriage—  Mere  Personal  Attractions — Abigail — 
Make  Yourself  Attractive— Not  Ashamed  of  Age— Culture  Your 
Heart— At  The  Hospital— < <  Seven  Days"— "Hold  My  Hand*'— Flat- 
teries of  Men— An  Angel— Discipleship  of  Fashion— Fashion 
Plates— Biblical  Fashion— Beautiful  Attire— A  Bright  World.. 235 

CHAPTER  XVIII. 

FASHION'S  FOLLIES. 

First  WTardrobe— The  Prodigal — Goddess  of  Fashion— Men  as 
Idolators— Tobacco— Animated    Checkerboards— Benedict  Ar- 


CONTENTS. 


XI 


nold— Sells  his  Country  to  Clothe  his  Wife— Expensive  Establish- 
ments the  Business  Man's  Ruin — Extravagance  of  Clerks — Trag- 
edy of  Human  Clothes — Fashion  the  Foe  of  all  Christian  Alms- 
giving— Ninety  Cents  on  the  Dollar — Theft  of  Ten  Per  Cent. — 
"What  a  Love  of  a  Bonnet!"— "What  a  Perfect  Fright!"— Fashion 
Belittles  the  Intellect— French  Roof  on  the  "House  of  Many 
Mansions"— -Countess  of  Huntington— Vashti  249 

CHAPTER  XIX. 

EXTRAVAGANCES  OF  MODERN  SOCIETY. 

Voluptuousness  of  an  Ancient  City — Parlor  Sentimentalities— 
Haughty  Daughters — Ashes!  Ashes! — God  Defying  Extravagance 
— Nature's  Adornments — Lawful  use  of  Adornments — Envy — Hon- 
est Debtors — Villainous  Debtors — Pay  as  you  go — Fictitious  wants 
— Wholesale  Extravagance — Cost  of  Luxuries — Crime  Increased 
— A  Great  Swash  — A  Bride's  Trousseau  and  Gifts— A  Fictitious 
life— Poverty  of  Religious  Institutions  260 

CHAPTER  XX. 

CLUBS. 

Men  Gregarious— Herbs  and  Flowers— Secret  Societies— Two 
Specimens  of  Clubs — Profitable  or  Baleful  Influences — The 
Test — The  Home — Moral  Bigamy— Domestic  Shipwrecks — The 
Clubs  Substituted  for  the  Home — Obituary  Easily  Written — 
Scions  of  Aristocracy — Influence  on  a  Man's  Commercial  Credit — 
Its  Influence  on  One's  Sense  of  Moral  and  Spiritual  Obligation 
— Two  Highways— Attacks  the  Best  Men — The  Large  Admis- 
sion Fee— Influence  of  Fathers  Upon  Their  Sons — Sacrifice  Your 
Money  Rather  Than  Your  Soul  272 

CHAPTER  XXI. 

WATERING  PLACES. 

An  Ancient  Watering  Place — Tradition  Concerning  it — Mod- 
ern Watering  Places — A  Picture — The  First  Temptation — Sacred 
Parade — Crack  Sermons — Quartet — Air  Bewitched— Horse  Rac- 
ing—Deceptive Titles — Saratoga— Bets  Run  High — Greenhorns 
Think  all  is  Fair — Sacrifice  of  Physical  Strength— Fashionable 
Idiots— "Do  Thyself  no  Harm"— Hasty  Alliances— Domestic  In- 


XII 


CONTENTS. 


felicities— Twenty  Blanks  to  One  Prize— Load  of  Life  —The  Fop 
— Baneful  Literature — Its  Popularity  at  Watering  Places — The 
Intoxicating  Beverage    283 


CHAPTER  XXII. 

WHISPERS. 

The  World's  Villainy— A  Confidential  Way — Whisperers  are 
First- Class  Liars  Confined  to  Neither  Sex — Where  Heard — Paul 
A  Sufferer — His  opinion  of  Whisperers— Law  of  Libel — Where 
Found— Turned  on  a  Spit — Three  Witches  of  Macbeth — This 
Hellish  Spirit — Destruction  of  A  Man's  Name — A  Suspicion  Start- 
ed— Its  Growth — The  Result — Jubilee  of  Whisperers — A  Listener 
Worse  than  a  Whisperer — A  Gutter  Inspector — Speak  Well  of 
Others— Do  Not  Cackle— Nothing  but  Tongue — The  Last  Whis- 
per 296 


CHAPTER  XXIII. 

LIES. 

Various  Ways  of  Lying — Acquired  and  Natural — The  Tend- 
ency in  Rural  Districts— The  Traducer — Plotting  of  Speculators 
— God  Help  the  Merchants— Fortunes  Made  by  Dishonesty — 
Large  Fortunes  Made  Honestly — Dishonesties  of  Speech — The 
Merchants — Customers — Artisans — Insincerity  of  Society — False 
Statements  of  Denominations— Misrepresentations  of  Individual 
Churches — No  Such  Thing  as  a  Small  Sin  308 


CHAPTER  XXIV. 

STRIPPING  THE  SLAIN. 

A  Battle  Field— Stripping  the  Slain — Young  Men  from  the 
Country — The  Battle  of  Temptation — Down,  Down! — The  Philis- 
tines—Evil Habit— Crowded  Out  of  Life— The  Sin  Convicted— Lift 
up  all  Such — Sin  is  Hardened  and  Merciless — Physical  Courage 
Gone — Blackness  of  Darkness — Sin  a  Luxury  Now,  Later  a  Col- 
lision— At  last,  Defeat  and  Death — A  Charnel  House — A  Gale  from 
Heaven— Life;  Immortal  Life  315 


CONTENTS. 


XIII 


CHAPTER  XXV. 

PITFALLS. 

Solomon  Recognizing  Strangers — Great  Immigration — Hotels 
of  this  Country — "I  must  join  that  Procession" — To  the  Academy 
— The  Picture  Gallery — The  Young  Men's  Christian  Association 
Rooms — Up  Broadway — A  Gettysburg— Underground  Life — Coun- 
try Customer  and  City  Merchant — "Drummers" — Mt.  Washing- 
ton—Seven Apples — "Slicing  off  Pieces"— French  Sabbaths — 
Only  an  Explorer — Sharp  Business  Man — Strangers  Welcome — 
Edward  Stanley  328 

CHAPTER  XXVI. 

GOLD !    GOLD ! !    GOLD ! ! ! 

A  God  of  Some  Kind — Aaron  and  the  Golden  Calf — Moses 
Return — When  a  Man  gets  Mad  he  is  apt  to  Break  all  the  Ten 
Commandments — Modern  Idolatry — Wall  Street — Bank  of  Eng- 
land— Michigan  Wheat — Maryland  Peaches — Immensity  of  its 
Temple — Every  God  its  Temple  and  its  Sacrifice — Its  Victims — 
Solomon's  Sacrifice— Clinking  Gold  and  Silver — Destruction  of  the 
Golden  Calf  Certain— The  Golden  Calf  Made  of  Borrowed  Gold 
— Borrowing,  the  Ruin  of  the  American  People — Nothing  heav- 
ier than  the  Spirit — Crosses  the  Jordan — Fool!  Fool!  Fool! — 
Change  your  Temples  338 

CHAPTER  XXVII. 

ONE  THING  THOU  LACKEST. 

A  Fine  Nature— A  Good  Home — Real  Good  Friends — Christ 
Maligned— The  Moral  Man— "One  Thing  Thou  Lackest"— Ele- 
ment of  Happiness— The  Invalid— The  Aged— The  Element  of 
Usefulness— Light  Wanted— Element  of  Personal  Safety— Where 
are  the  People?— Knocking  to-night — God's  Goodness— The 
Prosperous— The  Poor— 6 6 Whither  Bound"— With  Priceless  Treas- 
ures?—Do  not  Cheat  Yourself  348 

CHAPTER  XXVIII. 

WISE  MEN  WHO  PLAY  THE  FOOL. 

David  Playing  the  Fool— Pretends  Insanity— Escapes— Maj - 
esty  in  King  Lear's  Madness— Alexander  Cruden's  Concordance 


XIV 


CONTENTS. 


of  the  Bible— Men  Who  take  Their  Case  out  of  God's  Hand— 
Help  God  Manage  the  Train— Victoria— Way  the  Evils  are  Set- 
Trust  Your  Pilot — Tufelicissimus— Technicalities  of  Keligion — 
Try  these  Momentous  Questions— A  Man  Quarreling  About  a  Tick- 
et for  Trans- Atlantic  Voyage— Pay  out  Eternity  for  Time  Com- 
forts of  Surroundings  Cannot  Keep  Back  the  Old  Archer— Now 
is  the  Accepted  Time— A  Greeting— Death  of  One  Unprepared- 
Awake  from  Your  Folly  361 


CHAPTER  XXIX. 

SINS  OF  THE  CITY. 

Courage  to  Look  Upon  the  Sins  of  Cities — Laughed  for  Six 
Weeks— American  Clergy  Covering  the  Sins  Probed — A  Good 
Stout  Dose — No  Apology  or  Closing  up — Mission  of  the  Clergy 
— As  the  Cities  go,  so  Goes  the  Land — Every  City  a  Mission — 
Every  City  has  Certain  Characteristics — Planting  the  Capital — 
You  Have  an  Interest — City  of  Palaces — Old  Masters — Go  See 
the  Work  of  New  Masters— Westward,  Ho! — Historical  with  Foot- 
steps— Its  Morals— Men  Better  at  Home — Henry  Wilson — Clerks 
of  Departments — Members  of  Congress — A  Vast  Improvement — 
Never  a  Higher  Personal  Morality— Man  of  Morals — A  Law 
Breaker — Statute  Laws— We  Need  no  Keligious  Test — Lookout 
Mountain — Resumption — Incense  of  Praise — Transitory  and 
Unsatisfactory- -Call  the  Roll— Will  Never  Forgive— The  Lost 
Chord  375 


CHAPTER  XXX. 

RESPONSIBILITY    OF  ^RULERS. 

Morals  of  a  Nation  Seldom  Exceed  Those  of  its  Rulers— Our 
Rulers  Superior  to  Those  of  Other  Nations— Public  Wickedness 
—Unfitness  for  Office— Intemperance  Defeats  Legislation— De- 
feated our  Armies— Bribery— Not  Wholly  American— Rascality 
Among  Legislatures— Revolution  Ahead— Bonus— Stand  Aloof- 
Faithfulness  at  the  Ballot  Box— Evangelize  the  People— Per- 
sonal Responsibility  388 

CHAPTER  XXXI. 

MUNICIPAL  SINS. 

Intense  Excitement— The  Stranger's  Reception— A  Wild 
Laugh— Temptations  to  Commercial  Fraud— "This  Rivalry  is 


CONTENTS. 


XV 


A  wfulM— Decide  for  Yourself — One  with  God  is  a  Majority — Pol- 
itical Life — Allurements  to  an  Impure  Life — Cormorants  of 
Darkness— Six  Kainbows — A  Thousand  of  Them—  "Tick,  Tick!"— 
An  Enraptured  Vision   ....  399 

CHAPTER  XXXII. 

CUKE  OF  FINANCES. 

Blessings  Better  Than  Deserts—Bloody  Luxury  of  War — 
Three  Prescriptions — Cheerful  Conversation  and  Behavior — Out 
of  Employment— Responsibility— A  Severe  Winter— Quit  Growl- 
ing— A  Proper  Christian  Investment — A  Dishonest  Servant — Ad- 
minister Liberally — A  Turning  Point — Secure  the  Secret— Strike 
a  Balance — Bled  to  Death — Give — A  Great  Spiritual  Awakening 
— An  Everlasting  Poorhouse— Shipwreck  of  the  "Central  Ameri- 
ca"—Shipwreck  of  the  World  ...411 

CHAPTER  XXXIII. 

SPOILS. 

Allegory — Metaphor — The  Hunter's  Return— The  Fascinating 
Life  of  a  Hunter— Hunting  in  England— India— Western  Plains 
— Hunting  the  World — Edgar  A.  Poe — World's  Plaudits — A 
Change — Financial  Success — Dollar  Hunt — Northern  Pacific 
Bonds — Ralston— Higher  Treasures — Heartfelt  Satisfaction — 
Glorious  Divisions  of  Spoils — Folly  of  Worldly  Hunt — A  Bare 
Hand— Census  of  Old  People— No  Division  of  Spoils— Death  in 
the  Chase — Sudden  and  Radical  Change — Instantaneous — One 
Touch  of  Electricity— What  is  Religion?  424 

CHAPTER  XXXIV. 

EXPULSION  OF  THE  BIBLE. 

The  Bible  used  as  an  Ornament— The  Kohinoor  among  Dia- 
monds—A Seed  Planted — The  Public  Schools — Crowding  the 
Bible  out— A  War  Begun — Demanding  a  Hearing — Calculating 
Success — Infernal  Circles — A  Means  of  Becoming  Religious— A 
War  upon  the  Consciences  of  Men — Differences  in  Consciences— 
The  Bible  Particularly  Adapted  to  our  School  System — Its  Dis- 
cipline— Biography — Its  Sanctity— Text-books— Other  Infamous 
Demands— An  Implied  Right— Suspicion  cast  upon  it— Evidences 


XVI 


CONTENTS. 


of  the  Best  Men— Christian  Patriots-  Our  Schools  the  Child  of 
Protestantism— A  Bible-ReadiDg  and  God-Fearing  Nation —  A 
Sworn  and  Uncompromising  Friend  435 

CHAPTER  XXXV. 

WHAT   >F  OUR  CHILDREN? 

Tenderness  and  Affection — The  Beast's  Care  of  its  Young — 
What  is  to  Become  of  the  Child — Parental  Inefficiency  and  Im- 
perfection—Our Imperfection — A  Miserable  Failure — Stuffed 
with  Religion — Free  and  Easy  Parents — Scolding  and  Fretful- 
ness— The  Forgery — In  Dissipating  Circles — Erring  on  all  Sides 
—Early  Exhibition  of  Sinfulness— One's  own  Faults  Copied — So 
many  Temptations— The  Mother's  Apron  Strings — Farewell  to 
all  Innocence — Traps  set  for  our  Youth — Elegant  Bar-rooms— 
The  Lowest  Dives  and  Grogshops — The  Serpent  at  the  Hearth — 
The  Wrong  Beginning—  The  Division  of  an  Apple — Whose  hand 
was  it? — The  Value  of  an  Example  450 

CHAPTER  XXXVI, 
SEQUENCE  OF  EVIL  COMPANIONS. 

The  most  Beautiful  Figure  in  Geometry— The  Giant's  Cause- 
way— The  Universe — How  to  Build  Churches — Imitating  Noah's 
Ark — Pomology's  Progress — The  old  Masters — God's  Providence 
— Jezebel — An  Awful  Circuit— A  Theocracy — The  Rebound  is 
Rapid — An  Incident — Expenses  for  Burning  Latimer — A  Slander 
Uttered — Dishonor  of  Parents — The  Good  and  Bad  Come  Back — 
God's  Memory  is  Mighty— The  Circle  Completed — The  Center  of 
the  Circle  467 

CHAPTER  XXXVII. 

DISADVANTAGES. 

Adverse  Circumstances— An  Unfortunate  Name— Impose  Not 
upon  the  Babe- -Legislatures  Invoked — A  Change  not  Demeaning 
— Incomplete  Physical  Equipment — Scene  in  a  Clinical  Depart — 
ment— Crippling  the  Body— A  Subtracted  Physical  Organiza- 
tion— Use  Faculties  Remaining — Turn  away  from  Shadows — Lack 
of  Early  Education— An  Effective  Layman— A  Longwinded  pray- 
er Meeting  Bore— The  Miss  mated  Christian— A  Withering  Curse— 


CONTENTS. 


XVII 


Poverty— Early  Mistakes— Personal  Appearance  Defective- 
Wrong  Proclivities  from  the  Start — A  Tired  World — The  Pem- 
berton  Mill — Take  Courage — The  Voices  of  Adversaries  Covered 
with  Confusion  477 


CHAPTER  XXXVIII. 

KETKIBUTION  OF  HARD  THOUGHTS. 

The  Greatest  Sermon  Ever  Preached — Rule  for  Measuring — 
Unfairness  in  Criticism  an  Hereditary  Tendency — Princess  Mary 
School — Children  of  Criminals — All  People  Born  Equal— Differ- 
ences of  Blood — Swimming  Against  the  Current — Hereditary 
Evil— A  Depraved  Home— Suppose  Your  Lot  had  Been  Different 
—Consider  the  Conjunction  of  Circumstances — Just  as  I  Told 
You — Sorrow  for  the  Innocent — You  May  be  Tested —  The  Day 
of  Excitement— An  Ebullition  of  Temper — A  Keen  Nervous  Or- 
ganization— Majority  Want  to  be  Good— Magnificent  Generosity 
— Do  Not  be  Hard — Have  Mercy  or  Perish  489 


CHAPTER  XXXIX. 

SPIEITULISM. 

Mystery — Communications  Between  This  and  the  Next 
World — Fingers  of  Superstition— Modern  Spiritualism,  an  Old 
Doctrine — Necromancers  of  Old — God's  Condemnation  of  Such — 
Undue  Advantage  Taken — Remarkable  Scholarship  of  Spirits — 
An  Affair  of  Darkness — Ruin  Physical  Health— A  Marital  and  So- 
cial Curse — The  World  with  Spiritualism  at  the  Head— Produces 
Insanity — Falsehoods — Ruins  Disciples  and  Mediums — Ruins  the 
Soul  501 


CHAPTER  XL. 

A    WASTED  LIFE. 

A  Great  Feast— Guests  sit  down  Amid  Outbursts  of  Hilarity- 
Ashes—  Testimony  of  those  who  have  been  Magnificently  Suc- 
cessful— Testimony  of  Kings — Commercial  Adepts — Come  up,  ye 
Millionaires — Sinful  Pleasurists— A  Troop  of  Infidels— Placid 
Skeptic — Lord  Chesterfield — What  now  of  all  your  Sarcasm — 
Hungry — Where  Found — The  Antwerp  Merchant  and  Charles 

2 


XVIII 


CONTENTS. 


V.— Mortgage— Only  One  Word— Take  Bread— Great  Fire— Echo 
and  Re -Echo— Departure  Sudden — The  Spaniard  and  the  Moor — 
The  Swiftest  Horse— Escape— Fly!  Fly!  510 

CHAPTER  XLI. 

OFF   THE  TKACK. 

Help  for  the  Multitude— ' ' When  Shall  I  Awake?"— Elegant 
Literature — Complete  Maps  Showing  all  the  Rocks,  Shoals  and 
Quicksands — A  Field  Comparativly  Untouched — Force  of  Moral 
Gravitation— Easier  to  go  Down  than  to  go  Up — Power  of  Evil 
Habit — Hard  to  Row  Against  the  Current — Seventeen  Years 
Ago— Tobacco — Return  to  Old  Habits — A  Hard  Task-master — A 
Brilliant  Scene — One  Round  More — Two  Greetings — Tip-end  of 
your  Fingers— Hearty,  Honest  Hand-shake — Thrill  of  Pleasure — 
"  Isn't  it  Shocking?" — A  Special  Train — A  Hindrance— How  Han- 
nibal may  Scale  the  Alps — Help!  Help! — Hospital  at  Antietam— 
No  Questions  Asked — A  Letter — Seek  Advice — Sparta  Has  Con- 
quered—A Holiday  Gift— Proudest  Moment  of  Life  519 

CHAPTER  XLII. 

LEPERS. 

A  Sick  Warrior — Leprosy — Everybody  has  Something — No 
Desire  for  this  World  to  be  too  Bright — Afflictions  Sent  for  a  Pur- 
pose—A  Faithful  Wife— A  Waiting  Maid— The  Finger  of  Childhood 
— Amateur  Astronomy — Christian  Children — A  Solomn  Moment— 
The  Physician  Instructed — Pride  and  Leprosy — Something  to 
Learn — Getting  Mad  at  Religion — A  Change  of  Mind — "Huzza! 
Huzza!!" — Thinking  Better  of  the  Minister — You  Must  get  Down 
— You  must  Wash—A  Flood  Brighter  than  any  Other— Cured. .  530 

CHAPTER  XLIII. 

BROKEN  PIECES  OF  THE  SHIP. 

The  Mediterranean  Hurricane — An  Old  Missionary— The 
Crash — A  Struggle  for  Life — Call  the  Roll — An  Examination  of 
Passengers — The  Vast  Multitude — Encouragement  for  All-  A 
Stark  Fool — Take  to  the  Plank — Doesn't  Believe  in  a  Hell — Des- 
tination of  the  Holy  and  the  Debauched— The  Man  in  the  Off- 
ing—Believe in  Something—Heroism  and  Self-sacrifice— Come 


CONTENTS. 


XIX 


in  on  that  One  Narrow  Beam — A  Warm  Fire  of  Welcome — On  a 
Mud- Scow — Three  Steamers — On  that  Last  Fragment — The 
Death-bed  543 

CHAPTER  XLIV. 

WRECKED  FOR  TWO  WORLDS. 

Ministers  May  be  Lost — The  Cast  Away— A  Dark  Night  in 
your  Memory — Breakers  Ahead— Creating  False  Lights  on  the 
Beach — All  is  well — God's  Eternal  Lighthouse — A  Sudden  Swoop 
of  a  Tempest — Cast  Away — The  Temptation— Through  Sheer 
Becklessness — Drifting,  Drifting — Stirring  up  the  Ire  of  God — 
Wake  up  to  Your  Perils — Man  the  Life  Boat — Lift  a  Signal  of 
Distress — Lionel  Luken — The  Insubmergible  Life-boat — A  Grand 
Launching — The  False  Alarm — Begin  now  555 

CHAPTER  XLV. 

SOLD  OUT  FOR  ETERNITY. 

The  Captives— You  have  sold  Yourselves — Making  Over 
One's  Entire  Nature — The  World  a  Liar — Post  Mortem  Emolu- 
ments— The  Deceived  and  Deluded — That  was  the  Rub— Death 
of  a  Worldling — A  Poor  Investment — An  Awful  Vendue — Value 
of  a  Soul — Good  News  Told — Value  of  Money — A  Religion  of 
Blood — The  Vividness  of  Color — Sickening  Sensations — That 
Bid  Wins  It — Come  out  Frankly — The  Surety — The  Deadly  Com- 
bat— Freedom — Ransom  Refused — Sold  out  for  Eternity  565 


THOMAS  DEWITT  TALMAGE,  DJ). 


(^OHOMAS  DeWITT  TALMAGE  was  born  in  Bound- 
\2J  brook,  Somerset  County,  N.  J.,  in  the  year  1832. 
His  father  was  a  farmer,  of  much  vigor  and  consistency 
of  character;  his  mother  a  woman  of  noted  energy, 
hopefulness  and  equanimity.  Their  differences  in  char- 
acter, blended  in  a  common  life,  rendered  their  home 
one  of  harmony,  consecration,  benignance  and  cheer- 
fulness. 

The  late  David  T.  Talmage,  who  attained  the 
remarkable  age  of  eighty-three  years,  possessed  almost 
phenomenal  judgment  and  firmness,  uniting  those  traits 
which  attain  their  highest  expression  under  American 
institutions,  constant  colnmunion  with  nature,  habits  of 
self-support  and  self-reflection,  and  a  thorough  trust  in 
God.  Throughout  his  long  career  he  came  to  be  the 
natural  counselor,  leader  and  exemplar  to  the  people 
among  whom  he  lived,  in  matters  alike  secular  and 
religious ;  nor  was  a  fair  degree  of  official  distinction 
denied  him.  The  relation,  in  which  he  stands  to  the 
career  of  his  most  eminent  son,  is  summed  up  when  it 
is  stated  that  he  was  a  man  of  blameless  life,  profound 
discretion,  much  intelligence,  unaffected  gentleness,  and 
a  richness  of  spiritual  experience  which  made  his  life  an 
exponent  of  the  powers  of  the  world  to  come.  His  wife, 
Catharine  Talmage,  was,  in  every  respect,  a  helpmeet 

(25) 


6 


BIOGRAPHICAL. 


for  her  husband.  Peculiar  strength  of  character  marked 
him.  Peculiar  sweetness  of  character  distinguished 
her.  She  diffused  throughout  her  family  the  aroma  of 
a  meek  and  quiet  spirit.  Her  gentle  humanities  were 
ever  dispensed  within  the  circle  of  her  influence. 
Where  sickness  came,  she  preceded  the  physician ;  where 
sorrow  came,  the  preacher  of  consolation  arriving 
found  her  there  before  him.  "Her  life  was  not  a  psalm, " 
but  an  offertory.  One  afternoon,  in  each  week,  she  and 
five  of  her  neighbors  were  wont  to  meet,  to  pray  for 
the  salvation  of  their  households.  Nobody  knew  why 
these  mothers  met,  there  was  a  sort  of  mystery  about 
it.  They  met  to  pray  for  their  children ;  they  prayed 
until  they  were  all  converted. 

From  boyhood  and  throughout  his  youth,  DeWitt, 
always  inclining  toward  a  professional  career,  purposed 
to  make  that  profession  the  law.  Not  ignoring  that 
manifestation,  nor  abating  a  job  of  their  own  desire  for 
and  confidence  in  a  contrary  result,  his  parents,  as  a 
first  requisite  to  his  success  in  any  calling  determined 
to  endow  him  with  the  ever-available,  indispensable 
capital  of  a  thorough  education.  From  the  first  he  was 
remarkable  for  enthusiasm  in  mental  labor;  for  an 
audacious  devotion  to  those  branches  of  it,  for  which  he 
felt  the  most  fondness  and  fitness ;  for  a  vocabulary  of 
extreme  simplicity,  directness  and  brevity ;  for  powers 
of  memory  and  description  of  the  highest  order ;  for  a 
habit  of  divining  his  way  to  right  conclusions  without 
the  tardy  processes  of  proof ;  for  a  tendency  to  reach 
the  heart  through  illustrations,  rather  than  to  harrow 
the  head  with  arguments ;  for  an  entire  absence  of  self- 
consciousness  ;  and  for  a  disposition  of  sweetness  and 


BIOGRAPHICAL. 


27 


light,  and  ideal  honorableness.  And  yet  New  Jersey 
never  contained  a  merrier,  or  more  mischievous  lad,  one 
more  active  in  field,  or  more  roguish  in  school. 

Prepared  by  the  usual  course  of  study  for  college, 
Mr.  Talmage  chose  for  his  alma  mater  the  University  of 
New  York.  He  passed  through  that  excellent  institu- 
tion, not  with  the  maximum  of  merit  marking  men  who 
are  the  chief  figures  on  examination  days,  and  ciphers 
ever  after  to  the  end  of  the  chapter.  But  his  tropical 
imagination,  the  confidential  relationship  established 
between  himself  and  human  nature,  his  prodigious  but 
simple  powers  of  expression,  his  possession  of  the  dra- 
matic in  high  degree  in  thought  and  manner,  and  his 
inherent  love  for  the  pure  in  morals,  and  for  the  ideally 
excellent  in  life,  rendered  him  the  distinguishing  expec- 
tation and  feature  of  class  and  composition  days.  As  a 
belle-lettre  scholar,  a  professor  of  the  university  says, 
Mr.  Talmage  has  had  no  equal  in  all  the  students  who 
have  ever  graduated  from  that  institution.  On  gradu- 
tion  clay,  when  he  delivered  his  speech  at  Niblo's  Gar- 
den, the  effect  was  electric  and  overwhelming ;  the  most 
part  of  the  audience  rising  to  their  feet,  under  the  spell 
of  his  brilliant,  original,  mirthful,  and  pathetic  utter- 
ances. Journalist,  poet,  pleader,  politician,  or  reformer 
he  might  become,  and  to  any  of  these  roles  were  his 
powers  signally  adapted.  In  favor  of  his  becoming  a 
preacher  were  the  prayers  of  his  parents,  and  the  fact 
that  his  abilities  would  attain  their  highest  usefulness 
and  strength  in  the  advocacy  of  eternal  and  fundamental, 
not  temporary  and  tentative  truths.  The  purpose  of  the 
Deity  was  soon  made  manifest,  and  found  to  be  ordered 
in  consonance  with  the  highest  human  hopes  in  the  case. 


28 


BIOGKAPHICAL. 


He  became  a  Christian  before  he  was  twenty  and 
though  his  earliest  preference  was  the  law,  the  study  of 
which  he  pursued  for  a  year  after  his  graduation,  a 
voice  of  unrest  "Woe  is  me  if  I  preach  not  the  Gospel," 
turned  his  steps  toward  the  ministry,  and  he  entered 
the  New  Brunswick  Theological  Seminary  preparatory 
thereto.  The  step  was  extremely  gratifying  to  his  par- 
ents, although  they  had  not  urged  the  course.  He  was 
plainly  led  by  the  Lord,  and  not  man.  The  faculties 
which  would  have  made  him  one  of  the  greatest 
jury  advocates  of  the  age,  thus  were  preserved  for  the 
saving  of  the  souls  of  men,  and  "He  leadeth  me"  was 
written  in  living  letters  of  light  over  the  entrance  to  his 
life  work. 

As  his  destiny  and  powers  came  to  manifestation 
in  Brooklyn,  his  pastoral  life  prior  to  that  was  but  a 
preparation  for  it,  and  obviously  laid  the  foundation 
for,  and  paved  the  path  to  his  present  great  work.  At 
Belleville,  N.  J.,  on  the  beautiful  Passaic,  Mr.  Talmage 
first  tasted  the  sweetness  of  commending  Christ  to  men. 
That  cultivated  country  congregation  was  an  admirable 
school.  It  was  there  that  young  Talmage  not  only 
"became  introduced  to  himself, "  but  it  was  also  there 
that  he  bid  "a  last  farewell"  to  every  resolution  except 
to  count  himself  as  "dirt  and  accursed"  if  he  knew 
anything  among  them  save  Christ  and  him  crucified. 
There  he  formed  strong  friendships,  which  still  remain. 

By  natural  promotion  three  years  at  Syracuse  suc- 
ceeded three  at  Belleville.  That  cultivated,  critical  city 
furnished  Mr.  Talmage  the  value  of  an  audience  in 
which  professional  men  were  predominant  in  influence. 
His  preaching  there  grew  tonic  and  free.    As  Mr.  Pitt 


BIOGRAPHICAL. 


29 


advised  a  young  friend,  he  "risked  himself."  The 
church  grew  from  few  to  many  from  a  state  of  coma  to 
athletic  life.  The  preacher  learned  to  go  to  school  to 
humanity  and  his  own  heart.  The  lessons  they  taught 
him  agreed  with  what  was  boldest  and  most  compelling 
in  the  spirit  of  the  revealed  word.  Those  whose  claims 
were  sacred  to  him.  found  the  saline  climate  of  Syra- 
cuse a  cause  of  unhealth.  Otherwise  it  is  likely  that 
that  most  delightful  region  in  the  United  States— Cen- 
tral New  York — for  men  of  letters  who  equally  love  na- 
ture and  culture,  would  have  been  the  home  of  Mr.  Tal- 
mage  for  life. 

The  next  seven  years  of  Mr.  Talmage's  life  were 
spent  in  Philadelphia.  There  his  powers  became  "set." 
He  learned  what  it  was  he  could  best  do.  He  had  the 
courage  of  his  consciousness  and  he  did  it.  Previously 
he  might  have  felt  it  incumbent  on  him  to  give  to  pul- 
pit traditions  the  homage  of  compliance — though  at 
Syracuse  "the  more  excellent  way,"  any  man's  own 
way,  so  that  he  have  the  divining  gift  of  genius  and  the 
nature  a-tune  to  all  high  sympathies  and  purposes — had 
in  glimpses  come  to  him.  He  realized  that  it  was  his 
duty  and  mission  in  the  world  to  make  it  hear  the  gospel. 
The  church  was  not  to  him  in  numbers  a  select  few,  in 
organization  a  monopoly.  It  was  meant  to  be  the  con- 
queror and  transformer  of  the  world.  For  seven  years 
he  wrought  with  much  success  on  this  theory,  all  the 
time  realizing  that  his  plans  could  come  to  fullness  only 
under  conditions  that  enabled  him  to  build  from  the  bot- 
tom up  an  organization  which  could  get  nearer  to  the 
masses  and  which  would  have  no  precedents  to  be  afraid 
of  as  ghosts  in  its  path.    Hence  he  ceased  from  being 


30 


BIOGRAPHICAL. 


the  leading  preacher  in  Philadelphia  to  become  in  Brook- 
lyn the  leading  preacher  in  the  world. 

His  work  there  is  known  to  all  our  readers.  It  be- 
gan in  a  cramped  brick  rectangle,  capable  of  holding 
twelve  hundred,  and  he  came  to  it  on  "the  call"  of 
nineteen.  In  less  than  two  years  that  was  exchanged 
for  an  iron  structure  with  raised  seats,  the  interior 
curved  like  a  horse-shoe,  the  pulpit  a  platform  bridging 
the  ends.  That  held  three  thousand  persons.  It  lasted 
just  long  enough  to  revolutionize  church  architecture  in 
cities  into  harmony  with  common  sense.  Then  it  burnt 
up,  that  from  its  ashes  the  present  stately  and  most 
sensible  structure  might  rise.  Gothic,  of  brick  and 
stone,  cathedral-like  above,  amphitheater-like  below,  it 
holds  five  thousand  as  easily  as  one  person,  and  all  can 
hear  and  see  equally  well. 

Mr.  Talmage  is  everywhere  known  as  a  lecturer,  and 
the  highest  prices  are  paid  for  his  services ;  but  he  de- 
clines fifty  invitations  where  he  accepts  one.  He  will 
for  two  hours  keep  his  audience  in  the  lecture  hall  in 
excitement  going  from  tenderest  pathos  to  the  most 
boisterous  and  rollicksome  mirth.  His  resources  of 
mimicry  are  boundless.  He  is  a  person  above  medium 
height,  has  a  deep  blue  eye  and  sandy  complexion. 
His  face,  in  parlor  as  well  as  in  pulpit,  is  mobile  to  the 
last  degree — expressive  of  not  only  the  difference  be- 
tween the  grandest  emotions  of  the  heart,  but  of  the 
most  delicate  shades  of  feeling.  He  has  a  warmth  of 
manner  and  a  rush  of  conversational  power  which 
make  young  and  old  immediately  at  home  with  him. 
In  private  life  he  has  more  the  appearance  of  an  easy, 
off-hand  merchant  than  of  a  clergyman.    His  dress 


BIOGRAPHICAL. 


31 


there,  as  indeed  in  the  pulpit,  is  exceedingly  plain,  but 
always  neat  and  gentlemanly. 

Previous  to  his  visit  to  Europe,  in  the  Summer  of 
1885,  he  had  declined  all  invitations  to  preach  or  lec- 
ture, as  he  needed  rest,  but  some  friendly  pressure 
induced  him  to  change  his  determination.  The  ser- 
mon he  preached  in  London  was  delivered  in  the 
celebrated  Wesleyan  Chapel,  behind  which  is  the 
grave  of  John  Wesley,  and  in  front  of  which  is  Bun- 
hill  burial  ground,  where  lie  the  bones  of  John 
Bunyan,  Isaac  Watts,  Daniel  DeFoe  and  Home 
Tooke.  The  preacher  referred  in  his  sermon  to  this 
hallowed  ground.  The  chapel  was  crowded  to  suf- 
focation. During  the  indoor  services  several  thousand 
people  stood  in  the  front  graveyard  and  in  the  street, 
impeding  travel,  and  awaiting  Dr.  Talmage  outside. 
After  the  regular  service  he  came  into  the  church  porch 
and  addressed  the  multitude  in  full  voice,  and  then  with 
a  smiling  face  gave  out  a  stirring  hymn,  after  singing 
which  the  populace  made  the  policemen  happy  by  again 
freeing  the  thoroughfare. 

Later  in  the  season  he  preached  in  the  United  Pres- 
byterian Synod  Hall,  Edinburgh,  the  spacious  building 
was  filled  in  every  part,  all  the  passages  and  some  of 
the  window's  even  being  occupied.  For  want  of  room 
hundreds  were  turned  awTay  disappointed.  No  other 
preacher  ever  addressed  so  many  constantly.  Types 
give  him  three  continents  for  a  church  and  the  English- 
speaking  world  for  a  congregation. 

During  the  years  in  which  he  has  been  preaching 
Mr.  Talmage  has  not  only  received  the  criticism  of  the 
world,  but  often  its  misrepresentations  ;  nor  do  many 


32 


BIOGRAPHICAL. 


men  escape  them,  particularly  if  they  are  working  for 
God  and  the  church.  But  there  is  one  falsehood  told 
in  connection  with  his  life  which  invades  the  sanctity  of 
his  home,  and  deserves  only  to  be  mentioned  that  it 
may  denied. 

It  has  been  stated  over  and  over  again  in  private 
circles,  and  in  newspapers  hinted,  until  tens  of  thou- 
sands of  people  have  heard  the  report  that  some  years 
ago  Mr.  Talmage  went  sailing  on  the  Schuylkill  river  with 
his  wife  and  her  sister;  that  the  boat  capsized,  and  that 
he,  having  the  opportunity  of  saving  one,  let  his  wife 
drown,  saved  her  sister,  then  married  her  within  sixty 
days.  All  of  which  is  a  lie  made  out  of  whole  cloth.  One 
morning  Mr.  Talmage's  sister,  Sarah  Talmage  White- 
knack,  and  her  daughter,  who  were  visiting  him, 
with  his  wife,  daughter  and  himself  started  for  Fair- 
mount  Park.  Having  just  moved  to  Philadelphia,  they 
were  ignorant  of  the  topography  of  the  suburbs.  Pass- 
ing by  the  river,  they  proposed  a  row,  hired  a  boat  and, 
not  knowing  anything  of  the  dam  across  the  river,  and 
unwarned  by  the  keeper  of  the  boat  of  any  danger,  he 
pulled  straight  for  the  brink,  suspecting  nothing  until 
they  saw  some  one  wildly  waving  on  the  shore  as  though 
they  were  in  danger.  They  looked  back  and  found  they 
were  already  in  the  current  of  the  dam ;  they  went  over 
and  the  boat  capsized.  Mrs.  Talmage  instantly  disap- 
peared and  was  drawn  under  the  dam,  from  which  her 
body  was  not  rescued  until  days  after.  None  of  them 
were  able  to  swim  a  stroke,  but  managed  to  hang  on 
the  bottom  of  the  boat  till  help  came  from  the  shore. 
After  an  hour  of  effort  to  resuscitate  his  child,  who  was 
nine-tenths  dead,  she  breathed  again.    A  carriage  came, 


BIO  GRAPHICAL . 


33 


and,  leaving  his  wife  in  the  bottom  of  the  Schuylkill 
river,  and  with  his  little  girl  in  semi-unconsciousness, 
and  blood  issuing  from  nostril  and  lip,  wrapped  in  a 
shawl,  on  his  lap ;  and  with  his  sister  Sarah  and  her 
child  in  the  carriage,  they  drove  to  their  desolated 
home.  Since  the  world  was  created  a  more  ghastly 
and  agonizing  calamity  never  happened.  And  that  is 
the  scene  over  which  some  ministers  of  the  gospel,  and 
men  and  women  pretending  to  be  decent,  have  made 
sport.  His  present  wife  was  not  within  a  hundred 
miles  of  the  place.  So  far  from  being  sisters  they  had 
never  heard  of  each  other,  nor  did  Mr.  Talmage  even 
know  of  the  existence  of  his  present  wife  until  nine 
months  after  that  tragedy  on  the  Schuylkill. 

"For  a  knowledge  of  human  life,  and  the  adaptation 
of  Divine  truth  to  the  whole  being  of  man, — intellectual 
emotional,  moral,  practical,  for  the  power  of  applying 
that  truth,  we  know  not  his  equal."  His  extraordinary 
imagination,  earnestness,  descriptive  powers  and  humor, 
his  art  in  grouping  and  arrangement,  his  wonderful 
mastery  of  words  to  illumine  and  alleviate  human  con- 
ditions, and  to  interpret  and  inspire  the  harmonies  of 
the  better  nature,  are  appreciated  by  all  who  can  put 
themselves  in  sympathy  with  his  originality  of  methods, 
and  his  high  consecration  of  purpose.  His  manner 
mates  with  his  nature.  Gestures  are  the  accompani- 
ment of  what  he  says,  as  he  stands  out  before  the 
immense  throng,  without  any  notes  before  him,  the 
effect  produced  cannot  be  understood  by  those  who  have 
never  seen  it.  The  solemnity,  the  tears,  the  awful 
hush,  as  though  the  audience  could  not  breathe  again, 
are  ofttimes  painful. 


34 


BIOGRAPHICAL, 


His  voice  is  peculiar  no  musical,  but  productive  of 
startling  and  strong  effects,  such  as  characterize  no 
preacher  on  either  side  of  the  Atlantic.  His  power  in 
keeping  the  attention  of  his  audience  from  text  to  per- 
oration has  no  equal.  No  man  was  ever  less  self-con- 
scious in  his  work.  He  feels  a  mission  of  evangeliza- 
tion on  him,  as  by  the  imposition  of  the  Supreme, 
That  mission  he  responds  to  by  doing  the  duty  that  is 
nearest  to  him  with  all  his  might — as  confident  that  he 
is  under  the  care  and  order  of  a  Divine  Master  as  those 
who  hear  him  are  that  they  are  under  the  spell  of  the 
greatest  prose-poet  that  ever  made  the  Gospel  his  song, 
and  the  redemption  of  the  race  the  master  passion  of 
his  heart. 

•  The  judgment  of  his  generation  will,  of  course,  be 
divided  upon  him  just  as  that  of  the  next  will  not. 
That  he  is  a  topic  in  every  newspaper  is  much  more 
significant  than  the  fact  of  what  treatment  it  gives  him. 
Only  men  of  genius  are  universally  commented  on. 
The  universality  of  the  comment  makes  friends  and  foes 
alike  prove  the  fact  of  the  genius.  That  is  what  is 
impressive.  As  for  the  quality  of  the  comment,  it  will, 
in  nine  cases  out  of  ten,  be  much  more  a  revelation  of 
the  character  behind  the  pen  which  writes  it  than  a  true 
view  or  review  of  the  man.  This  is  necessarily  so.  The 
press  and  the  pulpit  in  the  main  are  defective  judges 
of  one  another.  The  former  rarely  enters  the  inside  of 
the  latter's  work.  There  is  acquaintanceship,  but  not 
intimacy  between  them.  Journals  find  out  the  fact  of 
a  preacher's  power  in  time.  Then  they  go  looking  for 
the  causes.  Long  before,  however,  the  masses  have  felt 
the  causes  and  have  realized,  not  merely  discovered,  the 


BIOGRAPHICAL.  35 

fact.  The  penalty  of  being  the  leaders  of  great  masses 
has,  from  Whitefield  and  Wesley  to  Spurgeon  and  Tal- 
mage,  been  to  serve  as  the  target  for  small  wits.  A  con- 
stant source  of  attack  on  men  of  such  magnitude  always 
has  been  and  will  be  the  printing-press,  which,  by  the 
common  consent  of  mankind,  is  described  and  dispensed 
from  all  consideration,  when  rated  as  Satanic.  .  Its 
attack  confirms  a  man's  right  to  respect  and  reputation, 
and  is  a  proof  of  his  influence  and  greatness.  It  can 
be  truly  said  that  while  secular  criticism  in  the  United 
States  favorably  regards  Mr.  Talmage  in  proportion  to 
its  intelligence  and  uprightness,  the  judgment  of  for- 
eigners on  him  has  long  been  an  index  to  the  judgment 
of  posterity  here.  No  other  American  is  read  so  much 
and  so  constantly  abroad. 

F.  P.  V.  N. 


SOCIAL  DYNAMITE. 


CHAPTEE  L 


TWO  HIGHWAYS. 

It  was  Monday  at  a  country  depot.  Two  young  men  are 
to  take  the  cars  for  the  city.  Father  brought  them  in  a 
wagon  with  two  trunks.  The  even- 
ing before  at  the  old  home  was 
a  sad  time.  The  neighbors  had 
gathered  in  to  say  good -by.  In- 
deed, all  the  Sunday  afternoon 
there  had  been  a  strolling  that  way 
from  adjoining  farms,  for  it  was 
generally  known  that  the  two  boys 
the  next  morning  were  going  to  the 
city  to  live,  and  the  whole  neighbor- 
hood was  interested,  some  hop- 
ing they  would  do  well  and 
others,  without  saying  anything, 
hoping  for  them  a  city  failure, 
talking  over  the  matter  the  neighbors  would  interlard 
conversation  about  the  wheat  crop  of  last  summer,  and 
the  apple  crop  yet  to  be  gathered,  with  remarks  about  the 
the  city  prospects  of  Edward  and  Nicholas,  for  those  were 
the  names  of  the  two  young  men — Edward  17,  and  Nicholas 
19;  but  Edward,  although  two  years  younger,  being  a  little 
quicker  to  learn,  knew  as  much  as  Nicholas.  They  were 
both  brown-faced  and  hearty,  and  had  gone  through  all  the 

(37) 


YOUTH. 
What  will  the  boy  become? 

Sitting  on  the  fence 


38 


TWO  HIGHWAYS. 


INDUSTRY  AND  STUDY. 


curriculum  of  hearty  sports,  by  which  muscle  is  developed 
and  the  chest  filled  out. 

Father  and  mother  on  Monday  morning  had  both  re- 
solved to  go  to  the  depot  with  the  boys, 
but  the  mother  at  the  last  moment 
backed  out,  and  she  said  that  some- 
how she  felt  quite  weak  that  morning, 
and  had  no  appetite  for  a  day  or  two, 
and  so  concluded  to  say  good-hy  at  the 
front  door  of  the  old  place;  where  she 
went  and  what  she  did  after  the  wagon 
left  I  leave  other  mothers  to  guess. 
The  breakfast  things  stood  almost  till 
noon  before  they  were  cleared  away. 
But  little  was  said  on  the  way  to  the 
railroad  station.  As  the  locomotive  whistle  was  heard  com- 
ing around  the  curve,  the  father  put  out  his  hand— somewhat 
knotted  at  the  knuckles  and  one  of  the  joints  stiffened  years 
ago  by  a  wound  from  a  scythe — and  said:  "Good-by,  Ed- 
ward; good-by,  Nicholas.  Take  good  care  of  yourselves,  and 
write  as  soon  as  you  get  there,  and  let  us  know  how  they 
treat  you.    Your  mother  will  be  anxious  to  hear. " 

Landed  in  the  city,  they  sought  out  with  considerable  in- 
quiry of  policemen  on  street  corners  and  questioning  of  car- 
drivers  the  two  commercial  establishments  to  which  they 
were  destined,  so  far  apart  that  thereafter  they  seldom  saw 
each  other,  for  it  is  astonishing  how  far  apart  two  persons 
can  be  in  a  large  city,  especially  if  their  habits  are  different. 
Practically  a  hundred  miles  from  Bowling  Green  to  Canal 
street,  or  from  Atlantic  avenue  to  Fulton. 

Edward,  being  the  youngest,  we  must  look  after  him  first. 
He  never  was  in  so  large  a  store  in  all  his  life.  Such  inter- 
minable shelves,  such  skillful  imitation  of  real  men  and 
women  to  display  goods  on,  such  agility  of  cash  boys,  such 
immense  stock  of  goods,  and  a  whole  community  of  em- 


TWO  HIGHWAYS. 


39 


ployes !  His  head  is  confused  as  he  seems  dropped  like  a 
pebble  in  the  great  ocean  of  business  life.  "Have  you  seen 
that  greenhorn  from  the  country?" 
whispers  young  man  to  young  man. 
"He  is  in  such  and  such  a  department. 
"We  will  have  to  break  him  in  some 
night."  Edward  stands  at  his  new 
place  all  day  so  home-sick  that  at  any 
moment  he  could  have  cried  aloud  if 
his  pride  had  not  suppressed  every- 
thing. Here  and  there  a  tear  he 
carelessly  dashed  off  as  though  it 
were  from  influenza  or  a  cold  in 
the  head.  But  some  of  you  know  idleness. 
how  a  young  man  feels  when  set  down  in  a  city  of 
strangers,  thereafter  to  fight  his  own  battles,  and  no 
one  near  by  seeming  to  care  whether  he  lives  or  dies. 
The  center  of  a  desert,  a  month's  journey  to  the  first  settle- 
ment, is  not  much  more  solitary.  But  that  evening  as  the 
hour  for  closing  has  come  there  are  two  or  three  young  men 
who  sidle  up  to  Edward  and  ask  him  how  he  likes  the  city, 
and  where  he  expects  to  go  that  night,  and  if  he  would  like 
them  to  show  him  the  sights.  He  thanks  them,  and  says  he 
shall  have  to  take  some  evenings  for  unpacking  and  making 
arrangements,  as  he  had  just  arrived,  but  says  that  after 
awhile  he  will  be  glad  to  accept  their  company.  After  spend- 
ing two  or  three  evenings  in  his  boarding-house  room,  walk- 
ing up  and  down,  looking  at  the  bare  wall  or  an  old  chromo 
hung  there  at  the  time  that  religious  newspapers  by  such  prizes 
advanced  their  subscription  lists,  and  after  an  hour  toying 
with  the  match-box  and  ever  and  anon  examining  his  watch 
to  see  if  it  is  time  to  retire — and  it  seems  that  10  o'clock  at 
night  or  even  9  o'clock  will  never  come — he  resolves  to  accept 
tho  chaperoning  of  his  new  friends  at  the  store. 

The  following  night  they  are  all  out  together.  Although 


40 


TWO  HIGHWAYS. 


his  salary  is  not  large,  he  is  quite  flush  with  pocket  money, 
which  the  old  folks  gave  him  after  saving  by  for  some  time. 
He  can  not  be  mean,  and  these  friends  are  doing  all  this  for 
his  pleasure,  and  so  he  pays  the  bills.  At  the  door  of  places 
of  enchantment  his  companions  can  not  find  the  change, 
and  they  accidentally  fall  behind  just  as  the  ticket  office  is 
approached,  or  they  say  they  will  make  it  all  right,  and  will 
themselves  pay  the  next  time.  Edward,  accustomed  to  farm 
life  or  village  life,  is  dazed  and  enchanted  with  the  glitter  of 
spectacular  sin.  Plain  and  blunt  in- 
iquity Edward  would  have  immedi- 
ately repulsed,  but  sin  accompanied 
by  bewitching  orchestra;  sin  amid 
gilded  pillars  and  gorgeous  upholstery ; 
sin  arrayed  in  all  the  attractions  that 
the  powers  of  darkness  in  combination 
can  arrange  to  magnetize  a  young 
man,  is  very  different  from  sin  in  its 
loathsome  and  disgusting  shape.  But 
after  a  few  nights  being  very  late 
out,  he  says:  "I  must  stop.  My 
purse  won't  stand  this.  My  health 
won't  stand  this.  My  reputation  won't  stand  this."  In- 
deed, one  of  the  business  firm  one  night  from  his  private 
box,  in  which  he  applauded  a  play,  in  which  attitudes  and 
phraseology  occurred,  which  if  taken  or  uttered  in  his  own 
parlor  would  have  caused  him  to  shoot  or  stab  the  actor  on 
the  spot — from  this  high-priced  box  sees  in  a  cheaper  place 
the  new  clerk  of  his  store,  and  is  led  to  ask  questions  as  to 
his  habits,  and  wonders  how,  on  the  salary  the  house  pays 
him,  he  can  do  as  he  does.  Edward,  to  recover  his  physical 
vigor  and  his  finances,  stopped  awhile  and  spent  a  few  more 
evenings  examining  the  chromo  on  the  wall  and  counting 
the  matches  in  the  match-box,  or  goes  down  into  the  board- 
ing-house parlor  to  hear  the  gossip  about  the  other  boarders 


HONOKED  SUCCESS. 


TWO  HIGHWAYS* 


41 


or  a  discourse  on  the  insufficiency  of  the  table  fare  consider- 
ing the  price  paid — the  criticism  severe  in  proportion  as  the 
fault-finder  pays  little  or  is  resolved  to  leave  unceremoniously 
and  pay  nothing  at  all. 

"  Confound  it !  "  cried  the  young  man,  "  I  cannot  stand 
this  life  any  longer,  and  I  must  go  out  and  see  the  world." 
The  same  young  men  and  others  of  a  now  larger  acquain- 
tance are  ready  to  escort  him.  There  is  never  any  lack  of 
such  guidance.  If  a  man  wants  to  go  the  whole  round 
of  sin  he  can  find  plenty  to  take 
him,  a  whole  regiment  who  know 
the  way.  But  after  awhile  Ed- 
ward's money  is  all  gone.  He  has 
received  his  salary  again  and 
again,  but  it  was  spent  before  he 
got  it,  borrowing  a  little  here  and 
a  little  there.  What  shall  he  do 
now  ?  Why,  he  has  seen  in  his 
rounds  of  the  gambling  tables 
men  who  put  down  a  dollar  and 
took  up  ten,  put  down  a  hundred 
and  took  up  a  thousand.  Why 
not  he  ?  To  reconstruct  his  finances  he  takes  a  hand  and 
wins;  is  so  pleased  he  takes  another  hand  and  wins;  is  in  a 
frenzy  of  delight  and  takes  another  hand — and  loses  all. 

When  he  first  came  to  the  city  Edward  was  disposed  to 
keep  Sunday  in  quietness,  reading  a  little  and  going  occa- 
sionally to  hear  a  sermon.  Now  Sunday  is  a  day  of 
carousal.  He  is  so  full  of  intoxicants  by  11  o'clock  in  the 
day  he  staggers  into  one  of  the  licensed  rum  holes  of  the 
city. 

Some  morning  Edward,  his  breath  stenchful  with  rum, 
takes  his  place  in  the  store.  He  is  not  fit  to  be  there.  He 
is  listless  or  silly  or  impertinent  or  in  some  way  incompe- 
tent, and  a  messenger  comes  to  him  and  says :    "  The  firm 


42  TWO  HIGHWAYS. 

desire  to  see  you  in  their  private  office."  The  gentleman  in 
the  private  office  says:  "  Edward,  we  will  not  need  you  any 
more.  We  owe  you  a  little  money  for  services  since  we  paid 
you  last,  and  here  it  is." 

"  What  is  the  matter  ?  "  says  the  young  man.  "  I  can- 
not understand  this.  Have  I  done  anything  ?  "  The  reply 
is :  "  We  do  not  wish  any  words  with  you.  Our  engage- 
ment with  each  other  is  ended."  "  Out  of  employment !  " 
What  does  that  mean  to  a  good  young  man  ?  It  means  op- 
portunity to  get  another  and,  perhaps,  better  place.  It 
means  opportunity  for  mental  improvement  and  preparation 
for  higher  work.  "  Out  of  employment!  "  What  does  that 
mean  to  a  dissipated  young  man  ?  It  means  a  lightning  ex- 
press train  on  a  down  grade  on  the  Grand  Trunk  to  perdi- 
tion. Al  Borak  was  a  winged  horse,  on  which  Mohammed 
pretended  to  have  ridden  by  night  from  Mecca  to  Jerusalem 
and  from  Jerusalem  to  the  seventh  heaven  with  such  speed 
that  each  step  was  as  far  as  the  eye  could  reach.  A  young 
man  out  of  employment  through  his  dissipations  is  seated  on 
an  Al  Borak,  riding  as  fast  in  the  opposite  direction. 

It  is  now  only  five  years  since  Edward  came  to  town. 

He  used  to  write  home  once  a  week 
at  the  longest.  He  has  not  written 
home  for  three  months.  "  What 
can  be  the  matter  ?  "  say  the  old 
people  at  home.  One  Saturday 
morning  the  father  puts  on  the  best 
apparel  of  his  wardrobe  and  goes 
to  the  city  to  find  out.  "Oh,  he  has 
not  been  here  for  a  long  while,"  say 
the  gentlemen  of  the  firm.  "Your 
son,  I  am  sorry  to  say,  is  on  the 
wrong  track."     The   old  father 

honored  age.  Soes  hunting  him  from  place  to 

place  and  comes  suddenly  upon 
him  that  night  in  a  place  of  abandonment.    The  father  says : 


TWO  HIGHWAYS. 


43 


"  My  son,  come  with  me.  Your  mother  has  sent  me  to  bring 
you  home.  I  hear  you  are  out  of  money  and  good  clothes, 
and  you  know  as  long  as  we  live  you  can  have  a  home. 
Come  right  away,"  he  says,  putting  his  hand  on  the  young 
man's  shoulder.  In  angry  tone  Edward  replies:  "  Take 
your  hands  off  me!  You  mind  your  own  business!  I  will  do 
as  I  please !  Take  your  hands  off  me  or  I  will  strike  you 
down!    You  go  your  way  and  I  will  go  mine!  " 

That  Saturday  night,  or  rather  Sunday  morning — for  it 
is  by  this  time  2  o'clock  in  the  morning — the  father  goes  to 
the  city  home  of  his  son  Nicholas,  and  rings  the  bell,  and 
rings  again,  and  it  seems  as  if  no  answer  will  be  given ;  but 
after  awhile  a  window  is  hoisted  and  a  voice  cries:  "  Who's 
there?"  "It's  me,"  says  the  old  man.  "  Why  father,  is 
that  you  ?  "  In  a  minute  the  door  is  opened  and  the  son 
says :  "  What  in  the  world  brought  you  to  the  city  at  this 
hour  of  the  night  ?  "  "  Oh!  Edward  has  brought  me  here. 
I  feared  your  mother  would  go  stark  crazy  not  hearing  from 
him,  and  I  find  out  that  it  is  worse  with  him  than  I  expected. 
"  Yes,"  says  Nicholas,  "  I  had  not  the  heart  to  write  you 
anything  about  it.  I  have  tried  my  best  with  him  and  all  in 
vain.  But  it  is  after  2  o  clock," 
says  Nicholas  to  his  father, 
"  and  I  will  take  you  to  a  bed." 

On  a  comfortable  couch  in 
that  house  the  old  father  lies 
down  coaxing  sleep  for  a  few 
hours,  but  no  sleep  comes. 
Whose  house  is  it?  That  of  his 
son  Nicholas.  The  fact  is  that 
Nicholas,  soon  after  coming  to 
the  city,  became  indispensable 
to  the  commercial  establishment 
where  he  was  placed.  He  knew 
what  few  persons  know,  that  in  all  departments  of 
business  and  mechanism  and   art  there  is  a  surplus  of 


WRECK. 


44 


TWO  HIGHWAYS. 


people  of  ordinary  application  and  ordinary  diligence ;  there 
is  a  great  scarcity  and  always  has  been  a  great  scarcity  of 
people  who  excel.  Plenty  of  people  to  do  things  poorly  or  tol- 
erably well,  but  very  few  clerks  or  business  men  or  mechanics 
who  can  do  splendidly  well.  Appreciating  this,  Nicholas  had 
resolved  to  do  so  grandly  that  the  business  firm  could  not  do 
without  him.  Always  at  his  place  a  little  after  everybody 
had  gone.  As  extremely  polite  to  those  who  decline  pur- 
chasing as  to  those  who  made  large  purchases.  He  drank 
no  wine,  for  he  saw  it  was  the  empoisonment  of  multitudes, 
and  when  any  one  asked  him  to  take  something  he  said  "No" 
with  the  peculiar  intonation  that  meant  no.  His  conversa- 
tion was  always  as  pure  as  if  his  sisters  had  been  listening. 
He  went  to  no  place  of  amusement  where  he  would  be 
ashamed  to  die.  He  never  bet  or  gambled,  even  at  a  church 
fair.  When  he  was  at  the  boarding-house,  after  he  had  got 
all  the  artistic  development  he  could  possibly  receive  from 
the  chromo  on  the  wall,  he  began  to  study  that  which  would 
help  him  to  promotion — study  penmanship,  study  biographies 
of  successful  men;  or  went  forth  to  places  of  innocent 
amusement  and  to  Young  Men's  Christian  Associations,  and 
was  not  ashamed  to  be  found  at  a  church  prayer-meeting.  He 
rose  from  position  to  position,  and  from  one  salary  to  another 
salary. 

Only  five  years  in  town  and  yet  he  has  rented  his  own 
house  or  a  suite  of  rooms,  not  very  large,  but  a  home  large 
enough  in  its  happiness  to  be  a  type  of  heaven.  In  the 
morning,  as  the  old  father,  with  handkerchief  in  hand, 
comes  crying  down-stairs  to  the  table  there  are  four  persons, 
one  for  each  side ;  the  young  man,  and  opposite  to  him  the 
best  blessing  that  a  God  of  infinite  goodness  can  bestow, 
a  good  wife;  and  on  another  side  the  high  chair  filled  with 
dimpled  and  rollicking  glee,  that  makes  the  grandfather 
opposite  smile  outside  while  he  has  a  broken  heart  within. 

It  was  Sabbath,  and  Nicholas  and  his  father,  knowing 


TWO  HIGHWAYS. 


45 


that  there  is  no  place  so  appropriate  for  a  troubled  soul  as  the 
house  of  God,  find  their  way  to  church.  It  is  communion 
day,  and  what  is  the  old  man's  surprise  to  see  his  son  pass 
down  the  aisle  with  one  of  the  silver  chalices,  showing  him 
to  be  a  church  official.  The  fact  was  that  Nicholas,  from  the 
start,  in  city  life  honored  God,  and  God  had  honored  him. 
When  the  first  wave  of  city  temptation  struck  him  he  had 
felt  the  need  of  divine  guidance  and  divine  protection,  and  in 
prayer  had  sought  a  regenerated  heart,  and  had  obtained  that 
mightiest  of  all  armor,  that  mightiest  of  all  protection,  that 
mightiest  of  all  reinforcements,  the  multipotent  and  omnipo- 
tent grace  of  God, and  you  might  as  well  throw  a  thistle-down 
against  Gibraltar,  expecting  to  destroy  it,  as  with  all  the  com- 
bined temptations  of  earth  and  hell  try  to  overthrow  a  young 
man  who  can  truthfully  say:  "  God  is  my  refuge  and 
strength." 

Come,  let  us  measure  Nicholas  around  the  head.  As 
many  inches  of  brain  as  any  other  intelligent  man.  Let  us 
measure  him  around  the  heart.  It  is  so  large  that  it  takes 
in  all  the  earth  and  all  the  heavens.  Measure  him  around 
the  purse.  He  has  more  resources  than  nine-tenths  of  those 
who  on  that  Monday  came  in  on  any  of  the  railroads  from 
North,  South,  East  or  West.  But  that  Sabbath  afternoon, 
while  in  the  back  room  Nicholas  and  his  father  are  talking 
over  any  attempt  at  the  reclamation  of  Edward,  there  is  a 
ringing  of  the  door-bell  and  a  man  with  the  uniform  of  a 
policeman  stands  there;  and  a  man  with  some  embarrassment 
and  some  halting,  and  in  a  roundabout  way,  says  that  in  a 
fight  in  some  low  haunt  of  the  city  Edward  had  been  hurt. 
He  says  to  Nicholas :  "  I  heard  that  he  was  some  relation 
of  yours  and  thought  you  ought  to  know  it."  "  Hurt  ?  Is 
he  badly  hurt  ?  "  "  Yes  very  badly  hurt."  "  Is  the  wound 
mortal  ?"  "  Yes;  it  is  mortal.  To  tell  you  the  whole  truth, 
sir,"  says  the  policeman,  "although  I  can  hardly  bear  to  tell 
you,  he  is  dead."    "  Dead  !  "  cried  Nicholas  ;   and  by  this 


46 


TWO  HIGHWAYS. 


time  the  whole  family  are  in  the  hallway.  The  father  says: 
"  Just  as  I  feared.  It  will  kill  his  mother  when  she  hears  of 
it.  Oh,  my  son,  my  son  !  Would  to  God  I  had  died  for 
thee.  Oh,  my  son,  my  son  !  "  "  Wash  off  the  wounds," 
says  Nicholas,  "  and  bring  him  right  here  to  my  house,  and 
let  there  be  all  respect  and  gentleness  shown  him.  It  is  the 
least  we  can  do  for  him." 

Oh,  what  obsequies!  The  next  door  neighbors  hardly 
knew  what  was  going  on ;  but  Nicholas  and  the  father  and 
mother  knew.  Out  of  the  Christian  and  beautiful  home  of 
the  one  brother  is  carried  the  dissolute  brother.  No  word  of 
blame  uttered.  No  harsh  things  said.  On  a  bank  of  camel- 
lias is  spelled  out  the  word  "Brother."  Had  the  prodigal 
been  true  and  pure  and  noble  and  honorable  in  life  and  hon- 
orable in  death  he  could  not  have  been  carried  forth  with 
more  tenderness  or  slept  in  a  more  beautiful  casket,  or  been 
deposited  in  a  more  beautiful  garden  of  the  dead.  Amid  the 
loosened  turf  the  brothers  who  left  the  country  for  city  life 
five  years  before,  now  part  forever.  The  last  scene  of  the 
fifth  act  of  an  awful  tragedy  of  human  life  is  ended. 

What  made  the  difference  between  these  two  young  men? 
Religion.  The  one  depended  on  himself,  the  other  depend- 
ed on  God.  They  started  from  the  same  home,  had  the 
same  opportunities  of  education,  arrived  in  the  city  on  the 
same  day,  and  if  there  was  any  difference,  Edward  had  the 
advantage,  for  he  was  brighter  and  quicker,  and  all  the 
neighbors  prophesied  greater  success  for  him  than  for  Nicho- 
las.   But  behold  and  wonder  at  the  tremendous  secret. 

Nothing  in  these  characters  is  fictitious  except  the  names. 
They  are  in  every  city,  and  in  every  street  of  every  city,  and 
in  every  country.  Not  two  of  them  but  ten  thousand.  They 
are  before  and  round  about  us,  they  are  invulnerable  through 
religious  defense  and  the  blasted  of  city  allurements.  Those 
who  shall  have  longevity  in  beautiful  homes  and  others  who 
shall  have  early  graves  of  infamy.    All  are  given  the  choice 


TWO  HIGHWAYS. 


47 


of  the  two  characters,  the  two  histories,  the  two  experiences, 
the  two  destinies,  the  two  worlds,  the  two  eternities* 

Standing  with  the  reader  at  the  forks  of  the  road  some- 
thing makes  me  think  that  if  I  set  before  him  the  termini  of 
the  two  roads  he  will  take  the  right  one.  There  are  many 
who  have  not  fully  made  up  their  minds  which  road  to  take. 
"Come  with  us!  "  cry  all  the  voices  of  righteousness.  "Come 
with  us!  "  cry  all  the  voices  of  sin. 

Now,  the  trouble  is  that  many  make  a  disgraceful  surren- 
der. As  we  all  know,  there  is  an  honorable  and  dignified 
surrender,  as  when  a  small  host  yields  to  superior  numbers. 
It  is  no  humiliation  for  a  thousand  men  to  yield  to  ten  thou- 
sand. It  is  better  than  to  keep  on  when  there  can  be  no  re- 
sult except  that  of  massacre.  But  those  who  surrender  to 
sin  make  a  surrender  when  on  their  side  they  have  enough 
reserve  forces  to  rout  all  the  armies  of  Perdition,  whether  led 
on  by  what  a  demonographer  calls  Belial,  or  Beelzebub,  or 
Apollyon,  or  Abaddon,  or  Ariel.  The  disgraceful  thing  about 
the  surrender  at  Sedan  was,  the  French  handed  over  419 
field-guns  and  mitrailleuses,  6,000  horses  and  83,000  armed 
men.  And  it  is  base  for  that  man  to  surrender  to  sin  when 
all  the  armaments  of  almightiness  would  have  wheeled  to  the 
front  to  fight  his  battle  if  he  had  waved  one  earnest  signal. 
But  no !  He  surrendered  body,  mind,  soul,  reputation,  home, 
pedigree,  time  and  eternity,  while  yet  all  the  prayers  of  his 
Christian  ancestors  were  on  his  side  and  all  the  proffered  aid 
— supernal,  cherubic,  seraphic,  angelic,  deific. 

The  abdication  of  Alexander,  of  Bulgaria,  caused  a  great 
deal  of  talk,  but  what  a  paltry  throne  was  that  from  which 
the  unhappy  king  descended  compared  with  the  abdication  of 
that  young  man,  or  middle-aged  man,  or  old  man,  who  quits 
the  throne  of  his  opportunity  and  turns  his  back  upon  a 
heavenly  throne,  and  tramps  off  into  ignominy  and  ever- 
lasting exile !  That  is  an  abdication  enough  to  shake  a  uni- 
verse.   In  Persia  they  will  not  have  a  blind  man  on  the 


48 


TWO  HIGHWAYS. 


throne,  and  when  a  reigning  monarch  is  jealous  of  some 
ambitious  relative  he  has  his  eyes  extinguished  so  that  he  can 
not  possibly  ever  come  to  the  throne.  And  that  suggests  the 
difference  between  the  way  sin  and  divine  grace  take  hold  of 
a  man.  The  former  blinds  him  so  he  may  never  reach  the 
throne,  while  the  latter  illumines  the  blind  that  he  may  re- 
ceive the  coronation. 

I  have  made  up  my  mind  that  our  city  life  is  destroying 
too  many  young  men.  There  comes  in  every  September  and 
October  a  large  influx  of  those  between  sixteen  and  twenty- 
four  years  of  age,  and  New  York  and  Brooklyn  damn  at  least 
a  thousand  of  them  every  year.  They  are  shoveled  off  and 
down  with  no  more  compunction  than  that  with  which  a 
coal-heaver  scoops  the  anthracite  into  a  dark  cellar.  What 
with  the  wine-cup  and  the  gambler's  dice,  and  the  scarlet 
enchantress,  no  young  man,  without  the  grace  of  God,  is  safe 
ten  minutes.  There  is  much  discussion  about  which  is  the 
worst  city  of  the  continent.  Some  say  New  York,  some  say 
New  Orleans,  some  say  Chicago,  some  say  St.  Louis.  What 
I  have  to  say  is,  you  can  not  make  much  comparison  between 
the  infinities,  and  in  all  our  cities  the  temptation  seems  in- 
finite. We  keep  a  great  many  mills  running  day  and  night. 
No  rice-mills  or  cotton-mills.  Not  mills  of  corn  or  wheat, 
but  mills  for  grinding  up  men.  Such  are  all  the  grog-shops, 
licensed  and  unlicensed.  Such  are  all  the  gambling  saloons. 
Such  are  all  the  houses  of  infamy.  And  we  do  all  the  work 
according  to  law,  and  we  turn  out  a  new  grist  every  hour, 
and  grind  up  warm  hearts  and  clear  heads,  and  the  earth 
about  a  cider-mill  is  not  more  saturated  with  the  beverage 
than  the  ground  about  all  these  mind-destroying  institutions 
is  saturated  with  the  blood  of  victims.  The  cry  from  the 
cities  to  the  villages  and  the  farm  is,  "Send  us  more  supply!" 
"Send  us  more  men  and  women  to  put  under  the  wheels." 
Give  us  full  chance  and  we  would  grind  up  in  the  municipal 
mill  five  hundred  a  day.    We  have  enough  machinery;  we 


TWO  HIGHWAYS. 


49 


have  enough  men  who  can  run  them.  Give  us  more  homes 
to  crush;  give  us  more  parental  hearts  to  pulverize!  Put 
into  the  hopper  the  wardrobes  and  the  family  Bibles,  and  the 
livelihoods  of  wives  and  children.  Give  us  more  material 
for  these  mighty  mills,  which  are  wet  with  tears  and  sul- 
phurous with  woe,  and  trembling  with  the  earthquakes  of  an 
incensed  God,  who  will,  unless  our  cities  repent,  cover  us  up 
as  quick  and  as  deep  as  in  August  of  the  year  '79  Vesuvius 
avalanched  Herculaneum. 

0,  man  and  woman,  ponder  the  path  of  thy  feet!  See 
which  way  you  are  going.  Will  you  have  the  destiny  of  Ed- 
ward or  Nicholas?  Plutarch  tells  us  that  after  Caesar  was 
slain  and  his  twenty-three  wounds  had  been  displayed  to  the 
people,  arousing  an  uncontrollable  excitement,  and  the  body 
of  the  dead  conqueror,  according  to  ancient  customs,  had 
been  put  upon  the  funeral  pile,  and  the  flames  arose,  people 
rushed  up,  took  from  the  blazing  mass  torches  with  which 
they  ran  through  the  city,  crying  the  glory  of  the  assassina- 
ted ruler,  and  the  shame  of  his  assassinators.  ,  On  this  day, 
when  the  five  bleeding  wounds  of  Christ  your  King,  are 
shown  to  you,  and  the  fires  of  his  earthly  suffering  blaze  be- 
fore your  imagination,  take  a  torch  and  start  heavenward — 
a  torch  with  light  for  yourself  and  light  for  others ;  for  the 
race  that  starts  at  the  cross  ends  at  the  throne.  While  the 
twenty-three  wounds  of  Caesar  wrought  nothing  but  the  con- 
sternation of  the  people,  from  the  five  wounds  of  our  Con- 
queror there  flows  a  transforming  power  to  make  all  the  un- 
counted millions  who  will  accept  it,  forever  happy  and  for- 
ever free. 


CHAP  TEE  II. 


EVIL  COMPANIONS. 

Hardly  any  young  man  goes  to  a  place  of  dissipation 
alone.  Each  one  is  accompanied.  No  man  goes  to  ruin 
alone.  He  always-  takes  some  one  else  with  him.  "  May  it 
please  the  court,"  said  a  convicted  criminal,  when  asked  if 
he  had  anything  to  say  before  sentence  of  death  was  passed 
upon  him — "may  it  please  the  court,  bad  company  has  been 
my  ruin.  I  received  the  blessings  of  good  parents,  and,  in 
return,  promised  to  avoid  all  evil  associations.  Had  I  kept 
my  promise,  I  should  have  been  saved  this  shame,  and  been 
free  from  the  load  of  guilt  that  hangs  around  me  like  a  vul- 
ture, threatening  to  drag  me  to  justice  for  crimes  yet  unre- 
vealed.  I,  who  once  moved  in  the  first  circles  of  society, 
and  have  been  the  guest  of  distinguished  public  men,  am 
lost,  and  all  through  bad  company." 

This  is  but  one  of  the  thousand  proofs  that  the  compan- 
ion of  fools  shall  be  destroyed.  It  is  the  Invariable  rule. 
There  is  a  well  man  in  the  wards  of  a  hospital,  where  there 
are  a  hundred  people  sick  with  ship  fever,  and  he  will  not  be 
so  apt  to  take  the  disease  as  a  good  man  would  be  apt  to  be 
smitten  with  moral  distemper,  if  shut  up  with  iniquitous 
companions.  In  olden  times  prisoners  were  herded  together 
in  the  same  cell,  but  each  one  learned  the  vices  of  all  the  cul- 
prits, so  that,  instead  of  being  reformed  by  incarceration, 
the  day  of  liberation  turned  them  out  upon  society  beasts 
not  men. 

We  may,  in  our  places  in  business,  be  compelled  to  talk 
to  and  mingle  with  bad  men ;  but  he  who  deliberately  chooses 

(50) 


EVIL  COMPANIONS. 


51 


to  associate  himself  with  vicious  people,  is  engaged  in  carry- 
ing on  a  courtship  with  a  Delilah,  whose  shears  will  clip  off 
all  the  locks .  of  his  strength,  and  he  will  be  tripped  into 
perdition.  Sin  is  catching,  is  infectious,  is  epidemic.  I 
will  let  you  look  over  the  millions  of  people  now  inhabiting 
the  earth,  and  I  challenge  you  to  show  me  a  good  man  who, 
after  one  year,  has  made  choice  and  consorted  with  the 
wicked.  A  thousand  dollars  reward  for  one  such  instance. 
I  care  not  how  strong  your  character  may  be.  Associate 
with  horse-thieves,  you  will  become  a  horse-thief.  Clan 
with  burglars,  and  you  will  become  a  burglar.  Go  among  the 
unclean,  and  you  will  become  unclean.  Many  a  young  man 
has  been  destroyed  by  not  appreciating  this.  He  wakes  up 
some  morning  in  the  great  city,  and  knows  no  one  except  the 
persons  into  whose  employ  he  has  entered.  As  he  goes  into  the 
store  all  the  clerks  mark  him,  measure  him,  and  discuss  him. 
The  upright  young  men 
of  the  store  wish  him  well, 
but  perhaps  wait  for  a 
formal  introduction,  and 
even  then  have  some  deli- 
cacy about  inviting  him 
into  their  associations. 
But  the  bad  young  men 
of  the  store  at  the  first 
opportunity  approach  and 
offer  their  services.  They 
patronize  him.  They  pro- 
fess to  know  all  about 
the  town.  They  will  take 
him  anywhere  he  wishes 
to  go — if  he  will  pay  the 
expenses.  For  if  a  good  young  man  and  a  bad  young  man 
go  to  some  place  where  they  ought  not,  the  good  young  man 
has  invariably  to  pay  the  charges.  At  the  moment  the  ticket 
is  to  be  paid  for,  or  the  champagne  settled  for,  the  bad  young 


THE  SMART  CLERK. 


52 


EVIL  COMPANIONS. 


man  feels  around  in  his  pockets  and  says,  "  I  have  forgotten 
my  pocket-book. "  In  forty-eight  hours  after  the  young  man  has 
entered  the  store  the  bad  fellows  of  the  establishment  slap  him 
on  the  shoulder  familiarly  and,  at  his  stupidity  in  taking  cer- 
tain allusions,  say:  "  My  young  friend,  you  will  have  to  be 
broken  in;"  and  fchey  immediately  proceed  to  break  him  in. 
Young  man,  in  the  name  of  God,  I  warn  you  to  beware  how  you 
let  a  bad  man  talk  familiarly  with  you.  If  such  an  one  slap 
you  on  the  shoulder  familiarly,  turn  round  and  give  him  a 
withering  look,  until  the  wretch  crouch  in  your  presence. 
There  is  no  monstrosity  of  wickedness  that  can  stand 
unabashed  under  the  glance  of  purity  and  honor.  God 
keeps  the  lightnings  of  heaven  in  his  own  scabbard,  and  no 
human  arm  can  wield  them;  but  God  gives  to  every  young 
man  a  lightning  that  he  may  use,  and  that  is  the  lightning 


ment  against  the  Christian  religion,  such  men  will,  by  their 


of  an  honest  eye.  Those  who 
have  been  close  observers  of  city 
life  will  not  wonder  why  I  give 
warning  to  young  men,  and  say, 
"Beware  of  evil  companions." 


THE  IDLER. 


Iwarn  you  to  shun  the  skeptic 
-the  young  man  who  puts  his  fin- 
gers in  his  vest  and  laughs  at  your 
old-fashioned  religion,  and  turns 
over  to  some  mystery  of  the  Bible, 
and  says,  "Explain  that,  my  pious 
friend;  explain  that."  And  who 
says,  "Nobody  shall  scare  me;  I  am 
not  afraid  of  the  future ;  I  used  to 
believe  in  such  things,  and  so  did 
my  father  and  mother,  but  I  have 
got  over  it."  Yes,  he  has  got  over 
it;  and  if  you  sit  in  his  company 
a  little  longer  you  will  get  over  it 
too.    Without  presenting  one  argu- 


EVIL  COMPANIONS. 


53 


jeers  and  scoffs  and  caricatures,  destroy  your  respect  for  that 
religion,  which  was  the  strength  of  your  father  in  his  declin- 
ing years,  and  the  pillow  of  your  old  mother  when  she  lay 
a-dying. 


ROBERT  J.  INGERSOLL. 

THE  INFIDEL. 


Alas !  a  time  will  come  when  that  blustering  young  infidel 
will  have  to  die,  and  then  his  diamond  ring  will  flash  no 
splendor  in  the  eyes  of  Death,  as  he  stands  over  the  couch, 


54 


EVIL  COMPANIONS. 


waiting  for  his  soul.  Those  beautiful  locks  will  be  uncombed 
upon  the  pillow;  and  the  dying  man  will  say,  "I  cannot  die 
— I  cannot  die."  Death  standing  ready  beside  the  couch, 
says,  "You  must  die;  you  have  only  half  a  minute  to  live; 
let  me  have  it  right  away — your  soul."  "No,"  says  the 
young  infidel,  "here  are  my  gold  rings,  and  these  pictures; 
take  them  all."  "No,"  says  Death,  "What  do  I  care  for 
pictures! — your  soul."  "  Stand  back,"  says  the  dying  infidel. 
"I  will  not  stand  back,"  says  Death,  "  for  you  have  only  ten 
seconds  now  to  live  ;  I  want  your  soul."  The  dying  man 
says,  "Don't  breathe  that  cold  air  into  my  face.  You  crowd 
me  too  hard.  It  is  getting  dark  in  the  room.  0  God !  " 
"  Hush,"  says  Death;  "  you  said  there  was  no  God."  "  Pray 
for  me,"  exclaims  the  expiring  infidel.  "  Too  late  to  pray," 
says  Death;  "but  three  more  seconds  to  live,  and  I  will 
count  them  off — one — two — three."  He  has  gone!  Where? 
Where?  Carry  him  out — out,  and  bury  him  beside  his  father 
and  mother,  who  died  while  holding  fast  the  Christian  reli- 
gion. They  died  singing  ;  but  the  young  infidel  only  said, 
Don't  breathe  that  cold  air  into  my  face.  You  crowd  me 
too  hard.    It  is  getting  dark  in  the  room." 

Again,  I  urge  you  to  shun  the  companionship  of  idlers. 
There  are  men  hanging  around  every  store,  and  office  and 
shop,  who  have  nothing  to  do,  or  act  as  if  they  had  not. 
They  are  apt  to  come  in  when  the  firm  are  away  and  wish  to 
engage  you  in  conversation  while  you  are  engaged  in  your 
regular  employment.  Politely  suggest  to  such  persons  that 
you  have  no  time  to  give  them  during  business  hours.  Nothing 
would  please  them  so  well  as  to  have  you  renounce  your  oc- 
cupation and  associate  with  them.  Much  of  the  time  they 
lounge  around  the  doors  of  engine  houses,  or  after  the  dining 
hour  stand  upon  the  steps  of  a  fashionable  hotel  or  an  elegant 
restaurant,  wishing  to  give  you  the  idea  that  that  is  the  place 
where  they  dine.  But  they  do  not  dine  there.  They  are 
sinking  down  lower  and  lower,  day  by  day.    Neither  by  day 


EVIL  COMPANIONS. 


55 


nor  by  night  have  anything  to  do  with  the  idlers.  Before  yon 
admit  a  man  into  your  acquaintance  ask  him  politely,  44  What 
do  you  do  for  a  living?"  If  he  says  "  Nothing,  I  am  a 
gentleman,"  look  out  for  him.  He  may  have  a  very  soft 
hand,  and  very  faultless  apparel,  and  have  a  high-sounding 
family  name,  but  his  touch  is  death.  Before  you  know  it, 
you  will  in  his  presence  be  ashamed  of  your  work-dress. 
Business  will  become  to  you  drudgery,  and  after  awhile  you 
will  lose  your  place,  and  afterward  your  respectability,  and 
last  of  all  your  soul.  Idleness  is  next  door  to  villainy. 
Thieves,  gamblers,  burglars,  shop-lifters  and  assassins  are 
made  from  the  class  who  have  nothing  to  do.  When  the 
police  go  to  hunt  up  and  arrest  a  culprit  they  seldom  go  to 
look  in  at  the  busy  carriage  factory,  or  behind  the  counter 
where  diligent  clerks  are  employed,  but  they  go  among  the 
groups  of  idlers.  The  play  is  going  on  at  the  theater,  when 
suddenly  there  is  a  scuffle  in  the  top  gallery.  What  is  it?  A 
policeman  has  come  in,  and,  leaning  over,  has  tapped  on  the 
shoulder  of  a  young  man,  saying,  "I  want  you,  sir."  He  has 
not  worked  during  the  day,  but  somehow  has  raked  together 
a  shilling  or  two  to  get  into  the  top  gallery.  He  is  an  idler. 
The  man  on  his  right  hand  is  an  idler,  and  the  man  on  his 
left  hand  is  an  idler. 

During  the  past  few  years  there  has  been  a  great  deal  of 
dullness  in  business.  Young  men  have  complained  that  they 
have  little  to  do.  If  they  have  nothing  else  to  do  they  can 
read  and  improve  their  minds  and  hearts.  These  times  are 
not  always  to  continue.  Business  is  waking  up,  and  the 
superior  knowledge  that  in  this  interregnum  of  work  you  may 
obtain  will  be  worth  fifty  thousand  dollars  of  capital.  The 
large  fortunes  of  the  next  twenty  years  are  having  their 
foundations  laid  this  winter  by  the  young  men  who  are  giving 
themselves  to  self-improvement.  I  went  into  a  store  in  New 
York  and  saw  five  men,  all  Christians,  sitting  round,  saying 
that  they  had  nothing  to  do.  It  is  an  outrage  for  a  Christian 


EVIL  COMPANIONS. 


57 


man  to  have  nothing  to  do.  Let  him  go  out  and  visit  the 
poor,  or  distribute  tracts,  or  go  and  read  the  Bible  to  the  sick, 
or  take  out  his  New  Testament  and  be  making  his  eternal 
fortune.    Let  him  go  into  the  back  office  and  pray. 

Shrink  back  from  idleness  in  yourself  and  in  others,  if 
you  would  maintain  a  right  position.  Good  old  Ashbel 
Green,  at  more  than  eighty  years  of  age,  was  found  busy 
writing,  and  some  young  man  said  to  him:  "Why  do  you 
keep  busy?  It  is  time  for  you  to  rest?"  He  answered:  "  I 
keep  busy  to  keep  out  of  mischief."  No  man  is  strong  enough 
to  be  idle. 

Are  you  fond  of  pictures  ?  If  so  I  will  show  you  one  of 
the  works  of  an  old  master.  Here  it  is:  "I  went  by  the  field 
of  the  slothful,  and  by  the  vineyard  of  the  man  void  of  under- 
standing; and  lo!  it  was  all  grown  over  with  thorns,  and 
nettles  had  covered  the  face  thereof,  and  the  stone  wall  was 
broken  down.  Then  I  saw  and  considered  well.  I  looked 
upon  it  and  received  instruction.  Yet  a  little  sleep,  a  little 
slumber,  a  little  folding  of  the  hands  to  sleep.  So  shall  thy 
poverty  come  as  one  that  traveleth  and  thy  want  as  an  armed 
man."  I  don't  know  of  another  sentence  in  the  Bible  more 
explosive  than  that.  It  first  hisses  softly,  like  the  fuse  of  a 
cannon,  and  at  last  bursts  like  a  fifty-four  pounder.  The  old 
proverb  was  right:  "  The  devil  tempts  most  men,  but  idlers 
tempt  the  devil. " 

A  young  man  came  to  a  man  of  ninety  years  of  age 
and  said  to  him :  "  How  have  you  made  out  to  live  so  long 
and  be  so  well  ?"  The  old  man  took  the  youngster  to  an 
orchard,  and,  pointing  to  some  large  trees  full  of  apples,  said: 
"  I  planted  these  trees  when  I  was  a  boy,  and  do  you  wonder 
that  now  I  am  permitted  to  gather  the  fruit  of  them  ?  "  We 
gather  in  old  age  what  we  plant  in  our  youth.  Sow  to  the 
wind  and  we  reap  the  whirlwind.  Plant  in  early  life  the 
right  kind  of  a  Christian  character,  and  you  will  eat  luscious 
fruit  in  old  age  and  gather  these  harvest  apples  in  eternity. 


58 


EVIL  COMPANIONS. 


I  urge  you  to  avoid  the  perpetual  pleasure-seeker.  I  be- 
lieve in  recreation  and  amusement.  I  need  it  as  much  as  I 
need  bread,  and  go  to  my  gymnasium  with  as  conscientious 
a  purpose  as  I  go  to  the  Lord's  Supper;  and  all  persons  of 
sanguine  temperament  must  have  amusement  and  recreation. 
God  would  not  have  made  us  with  the  capacity  to  laugh  if 
he  had  not  intended  us  sometimes  to  indulge  it.  God 
hath  hung  in  sky,  and  set  in  wave,  and  printed  on  grass 
many  a  roundelay;  but  he  who  chooses  pleasure-seeking  for 
his  life-work  does  not  understand  for  what  God  made  him. 
Our  amusements  are  intended  to  help  us  in  some  earnest 
mission.  The  thunder-cloud  hath  an  edge  exquisitely  purpled, 
but  with  voice  that  jars  the  earth  it  declares,  "I  go  to  water 
the  green  fields."  The  wild-flowers  under  the  fence  are  gay, 
but  they  say,  "  "We  stand  here  to  make  room  for  the  wheat- 
field,  and  to  refresh  the  husbandmen  in  their  nooning."  The 
stream  sparkles  and  foams  and  frolics  and  says,  "  I  go  to 
baptize  the  moss.  I  lave  the  spots  on  the  trout.  I  slake  the 
thirst  of  the  bird.  I  turn  the  wheel  of  the  mill.  I  rock  in 
my  crystal  cradle  muckshaw  and  water-lily."  And  so,  while 
the  world  plays,  it  works.  Look  out  for  the  man  who  always 
plays  and  never  works. 

You  will  do  well  to  avoid  those  whose  regular  business  it 
is  to  play  ball,  skate  or  go  a-boating.  All  these  sports  are 
grand  in  their  places.  I  never  derived  so  much  advantage 
from  any  ministerial  association  as  from  a  ministerial 
club  that  went  out  to  play  ball  every  Saturday  afternoon  in 
the  outskirts  of  Philadelphia.  These  recreations  are  grand 
to  give  us  muscle  and  spirits  for  our  regular  toil.  I  believe 
in  muscular  Christianity.  A  man  is  often  not  so  near  God 
with  a  weak  stomach  as  when  he  has  a  strong  digestion. 
But  shun  those  who  make  it  their  life  occupation  to  sport. 
There  are  young  men  whose  industry  and  usefulness  have 
fallen  overboard  from  the  yacht.  There  are  men  whose  bus- 
iness fell  through  the  ice  of  the  skating  pond  and  has  never 


EVIL  COMPANIONS. 


59 


since  been  heard  of.  There  is  a  beauty  in  the  gliding  of  a 
boat,  in  the  song  of  skates,  in  the  soaring  of  a  well-struck 
ball,  and  I  never  see  one  fly  but  I  involuntarily  throw  up  my 
hands  to  catch  it;  and,  so  far  from  laying  an  injunction  upon 
ball-playing,  or  any  other  innocent  sport,  I  claim  them  all  as 
belonging  of  right  to  those  of  us  who  toil  in  the  grand  indus- 
tries of  church  and  state. 

But  the  life  business  of  pleasure-seeking  always  makes 
in  the  end,  a  criminal  or  a  sot.  George  Brummel  was  smiled 
upon  by  all  England,  and  his  life  was  given  to  pleasure.  He 
danced  with  peeresses,  and  swung  a  round  of  mirth  and 
wealth  and  applause,  until,  exhausted  of  purse,  and  worn  out 
of  body,  and  bankrupt  of  reputation,  and  ruined  of  soul,  he 
begged  a  biscuit  from  a  grocer,  and  declared  that  he  thought 
a  dog's  life  was  better  than  a  man's. 

Such  men  will  crowd  around  your  anvil,  or  seek  to  decoy 
you  off.  They  will  want  you  to  break  out  in  the  midst  of 
your  busy  day  to  take  a  ride  with  them.  They  will  tell  you 
of  some  people  you  must  see ;  of  some  excursion  that  you 
must  take ;  of  some  Sabbath  day  that  you  ought  to  dishonor. 
They  will  tell  you  of  exquisite  wines  that  you  must  take ;  of 
costly  operas  that  you  must  hear;  of  wonderful  dancers  that 
you  must  see;  but  before  you  accept  their  convoy  or  their 
companionship,  remember  that  while  at  the  end  of  a  useful 
life  you  may  be  able  to  look  back  to  kindnesses  done,  to  hon- 
orable work  accomplished,  to  poverty  helped,  to  a  good  name 
earned,  to  Christian  influence  exerted,  to  a  Saviour's  cause 
advanced — these  pleasure-seekers  on  their  death- bed  have 
nothing  better  to  review  than  a  torn  play- bill,  a  ticket  for  the 
races,  an  empty  tankard,  and  the  cast-out  rinds  of  a  carousal; 
and  as  in  the  delirium  of  their  awful  death  they  clutch  the 
goblet,  and  press  it  to  their  lips,  the  dregs  of  the  cup  falling 
upon  their  tongue,  will  begin  to  hiss  and  uncoil  with  the 
adders  of  an  eternal  poison. 

Cast  out  these  men  from  your  company.    Do  not  be  inti- 


60 


EVIL  COMPANIONS. 


mate  with  them.  Always  be  polite.  There  is  no  demand 
that  you  ever  sacrifice  politeness.  A  young  man  accosted  a 
Christian  Quaker  with  "Old  chap,  how  did  you  make  all  your 
money?"  The  Quaker  replied,  "By  dealing  in  an  article 
that  thou  mayest  deal  in  if  thou  wilt — civility. "  Always  be 
courteous,  but  at  the  same  time  firm.  Say  no  as  if  you 
meant  it.  Have  it  understood  in  store,  and  shop,  and  street 
that  you  will  not  stand  in  the  companionship  of  the  skeptic, 
the  idle,  the  pleasure-seeker. 

Bather  than  enter  the  companionship  of  such,  accept  the 
invitation  to  a  better  feast.  The  promises  of  God  are  the 
fruits.  The  harps  of  heaven  are  the  music.  Clusters  from 
the  vineyards  of  God  have  been  pressed  into  the  tankards. 
The  sons  and  daughters  of  the  Lord  Almighty  are  the  guests. 
While,  standing  at  the  banquet,  to  fill  the  cups  and  divide 
the  clusters,  and  command  the  harps,  and  welcome  the 
guests,  is  a  daughter  of  God  on  whose  brow  are  the  blossoms 
of  Paradise,  and  in  whose  cheek  is  the  flush  of  celestial  sum- 
mer.   Her  name  is  Beligion. 

"Her  ways  are  ways  of  pleasantness, 
And  all  her  paths  are  peace." 


CHAPTEK  III. 


DARK  DEEDS. 

When  night  came  down  on  Babylon,  Ninevah  and  Jerusa- 
lem, they  needed  careful  watching,  otherwise  the  incendiary's 
torch  might  have  been  thrust  into  the  very  heart  of  the  me- 
tropolitan splendor;  or  enemies,  marching  from  the  hills, 
might  have  forced  the  gates.  All  night  long,  on  top  of  the 
wall  and  in  front  of  the  gates  might  be  heard  the  measured 
step  of  the  watchman  on  his  solitary  beat;  silence  hung  in 
the  air,  save  as  some  passer  by  raised  the  question:  "Watch- 
man, what  of  the  night?"  It  is  to  me  a  deeply  suggestive 
and  solemn  thing  to  see  a  man  standing  guard  by  night.  It 
thrilled  through  me,  as  at  the  gate  of  an  arsenal  at  Charles- 
ton, the  question  once  smote  me:  "  Who  comes  there ?  " 
followed  by  the  sharp  command:  "  Advance  and  give  the 
countersign.''  Every  moral  teacher  stands  on  picket,  or  pa- 
trols the  wall  as  watchman.  His  work  is  to  sound  the  alarm; 
and  whether  it  be  in  the  first  watch,  in  the  second  watch,  in 
the  third  watch,  or  in  the  fourth  watch,  to  be  vigilant  until 
the  daybreak  flings  its  "  morning  glories"  of  blooming  cloud 
across  the  arching  trellis  of  the  sky.  The  ancients  divided 
their  night  into  four  parts — the  first  watch,  from  6  to  9 ;  the 
second,  from  9  to  12;  the  third,  from  12  to  3;  and  the  fourth, 
from  3  to  6. 

I  never  weary  of  looking  upon  the  life  and  brilliancy  of 
the  city  in  the  first  watch.  That  is  the  hour  when  the  stores 
are  closing.  The  laboring  men,  having  quitted  the  scaffold- 
ing and  the  shop,  are  on  their  way  home.  It  rejoices  me  to 
give  them  my  seat  in  the  city  car.    They  have  stood  and  ham- 

(61) 


62 


DARK  DEEDS. 


mered  away  all  day.  Their  feet  are  weary.  They  are  ex- 
hausted with  the  tug  of  work.  They  are  mostly  cheerful. 
With  appetites  sharpened  on  the  swift  turner's  wheel  and  the 
carpenter's  whetstone,  they  seek  the  evening  meal.  The 
clerks,  too,  have  broken  away  from  the  counter,  and  with 
brain  weary  of  the  long  line  of  figures  and  the  whims  of  those 
who  go  a  shopping,  seek  the  face  of  mother,  or  wife  and  child. 
The  merchants  are  unharnessing  themselves  from  their  anxie- 
ties on  their  way  up  the  street.  The  boys  that  lock  up  are 
heaving  away  at  the  shutters,  shoving  the  heavy  bolts  and 
taking  a  last  look  at  the  fire  to  see  that  all  is  safe.  The 
streets  are  thronged  with  young  men,  setting  out  from  the 
great  centers  of  bargain -making.  Let  idlers  clear  the  street, 
and  give  right  of  way  to  the  besweated  artisans  and  merchants ! 
They  have  earned  their  bread  and  are  now  on  their  way 
home  to  get  it.  The  lights  in  full  jet  hang  over  ten  thousand 
evening  repasts — the  parents  at  either  end  of  the  table,  the 
children  between.  Thank  God,  "who  setteth  the  solitary  in 
families." 

A  few  hours  later,  and  all  the  places  of  amusement,  good 
and  bad,  are  in  full  tide.  Lovers  of  art,  catalogue  in  hand, 
stroll  through  the  galleries  and  discuss  the  pictures.  The 
ballroom  is  resplendent  with  the  rich  apparal  of  those  who, 
on  either  side  of  the  white,  glistening  boards,  await  the  signal 
from  the  orchestra.  The  footlights  of  the  theater  flash  up; 
the  bell  rings,  and  the  curtain  rises;  and  out  from  the  gor- 
geous scenery  glide  the  actors,  greeted  with  the  vociferation 
of  the  expectant  multitudes.  Concert  halls  are  lifted  into  en- 
chantment with  the  warble  of  one  songstress,  or  swept  out 
on  a  sea  of  tumultuous  feeling  by  the  blast  of  brazen  instru- 
ments. Drawing-rooms  are  filled  with  all  gracefulness  of 
apparel,  with  all  sweetness  of  sound,  with  all  splendor  of 
manner;  mirrors  are  catching  up  and  multiplying  the  scene, 
until  it  seems  as  if  in  infinite  corridors  there  were  garlanded 
groups  advancing  and    retreating.    The  outdoor  air  rings 


DABK  DEEDS. 


63 


with  laughter,  and  with  the  moving  to  and  fro  of  thousands 
on  the  great  promenades.  The  dashing  span  adrip  with  the 
foam  of  the  long  country  ride,  rushes  past  as  you  halt  at  the 
curbstone.  ,  Mirth,  revelry,  beauty,  fashion,  magnificence 
mingle  in  the  great  metropolitan  picture  until  the  thinking 
man  goes  home  to  think  more  seriously,  and  the  praying 
man  to  pray  more  earnestly.  A  beautiful  and  overwhelming 
thing  is  the  city  in  the  first  and  second  watches  of  the  night. 

But  the  clock  strikes  12  and  the  third  watch  has  begun. 
The  thunder  of  the  city  has  rolled  out  of  the  air.  The  slight- 
est sounds  cut  the  night  with  such  distinctness  as  to  attract 
your  attention.  The  tinkling  of  the  bell  of  the  street  car  in 
the  distance,  and  the  baying  of  the  dog.  The  stamp  of  a 
horse  in  the  next  street,  the  slamming  of  a  saloon  door;  the 
hiccough  of  the  drunkard;  the  shriek  of  the  steam  whistle 
five  miles  away.  0,  how  suggestive,  my  friends,  the  third 
watch  of  the  night.  There  are  honest  men  passing  up  and 
down  the  street.  Here  is  a  city  missionary  who  has  been 
carrying  a  scuttle  of  coal  to  that  poor  family  in  that  dark 
place.  Here  is  an  undertaker  going  up  the  steps  of  a  build- 
ing from  which  comes  a  bitter  cry  which  indicates  that  the 
destroying  angel  has  smitten  the  first-born.  Here  is  a  minis- 
ter of  religion  who  has  been  giving  the  sacrament  to  a  dying 
Christian.  Here  is  a  physician  passing  along  in  great  haste, 
the  messenger  a  few  steps  ahead  hurrying  on  to  the  house- 
hold. Nearly  all  the  lights  have  gone  out  in  the  dwellings, 
for  it  is  the  third  watch  of  the  night.  That  light  in  the 
window  is  the  light  of  the  watcher,  for  the  medicines  must 
be  administered,  and  the  fever  must  be  watched,  and  the  rest- 
less tossing  off  of  the  coverlid  must  be  resisted,  and  the  ice 
must  be  kept  on  hot  temples,  and  the  perpetual  prayer  must 
go  up  from  hearts  soon  to  be  broken.  Oh,  the  third  watch  of 
the  night.  What  a  stupendous  thought — a  whole  city  at  rest- 
Weary  arms  preparing  for  to-morrow's  toil.  Hotbrain  being 
cooled  off.    Eigid  muscles  relaxed.    Excited  nerves  soothed. 


64 


DARK  DEEDS. 


The  white  hair  of  the  octogenarian  in  thin  drifts  across  the 
pillow,  fresh  fall  of  flakes  on  snow  already  fallen.  Childhood 
with  its  dimpled  hand  thrown  out  on  the  pillow  and  with 
every  breath  taking  in  a  new  store  of  fun  and  frolic.  Third 
watch  of  the  night!  God's  slumberless  eye  will  look.  Let 
one  great  wave  of  refreshing  slumber  roll  over  the  heart  of 
the  great  town,  submerging  care  and  anxiety,  and  worri- 
ment  and  pain. 

Let  the  city  sleep.  But,  my  friends,  be  not  deceived. 
There  will  be  thousands  to-night  who  will  not  sleep  at  all. 
Go  up  that  dark  alley,  and  be  cautious  where  you  tread,  lest 
you  fall  over  the  prostrate  form  of  a  drunkard  lying  on  his 
own  doorstep.  Look  about  you,  lest  you  feel  the  garroter's 
hug.  Look  through  the  broken  window-pane,  and  see  what 
you  can  see.  You  say :  "  Nothing."  Then  listen.  What  is  it? 
"  God  help  us !  "  No  footlights,  but  tragedy  ghastlier  and 
mightier  than  Eistori  or  Edwin  Booth  ever  enacted.  No 
light,  no  fire,  no  bread,  no  hope.  Shivering  in  the  cold,  they 
have  had  no  food  for  twenty-four  hours.  You  say :  "  Why 
don't  they  beg?  "  They  do,  but  they  get  nothing.  You  say: 
"  Why  don't  they  deliver  themselves  over  to  the  almshouse?" 
Ah !  you  would  not  ask  that  if  you  ever  heard  the  bitter  cry 
of  a  man  or  a  child  when  told  he  must  go  to  the  almshouse. 
"  Oh,"  you  say,  "  they  are  vicious  poor,  and,  therefore,  they  do 
not  deserve  our  sympathy."  Are  they  vicious?  So  much 
more  need  they  your  pity.  The  Christian  poor,  God  helps 
them.  Through  their  night  there  twinkles  the  round,  merry 
star  of  hope,  and  through  the  broken  window-pane  they  see 
the  crystals  of  heaven ;  but  the  vicious  poor,  they  are  more 
to  be  pitied.  Their  last  light  has  gone  out.  You  excuse 
yourself  from  helping  them  by  saying  they  are  so  bad,  they 
brought  this  trouble  on  themselves.  I  reply,  where  I  give 
ten  prayers  for  the  innocent  who  are  suffering  I  will  give 
twenty  prayers  for  the  guilty  who  are  suffering.  The  fisher- 
man, when  he  sees  a  vessel  dashing  into  the  breakers,  comes 


THE  CHRISTIAN  POOR. 


DARK  DEEDS. 


67 


out  from  his  hut  and  wraps  the  warmest  flannels  around 
those  who  are  most  chilled  and  most  bruised  and  most  bat- 
tered in  the  wreck;  and  I  want  you  to  know  that  these 
vicious  poor  have  had  two  shipwrecks— shipwreck  of  the 
body,  shipwreck  of  the  soul — shipwreck  for  time,  shipwreck 
for  eternity.  Pity,  by  all  means,  the  innocent  who  are  suf- 
fering, but  pity  more  the  guilty. 

Pass  on  through  the  alley.  Open  the  door.  ".Oh,"  you 
say,  "  it  is  locked."  No,  it  is  not  locked.  It  has  never  been 
locked.  No  burglar  would  be  tempted  to  go  in  there  to  steal 
anything.  The  door  is  never  locked.  Only  a  broken  chair 
stands  against  the  door.  Shove  it  back.  Go  in.  Strike  a 
match.  Now,  look.  Beastliness  and  rags.  See  those  glaring 
eyeballs.  Be  careful  now  what  you  say.  Do  not  utter  any 
insult,  do  not  utter  any  suspicion,  if  you  value  your  life. 
What  is  that  red  mark  on  the  wall?  It  is  the  mark  of  a 
murderer's  hand!  Look  at  those  two  eyes  rising  up  out  of 
the  darkness  and  out  from  the  straw  in  the  corner,  coming 
toward  you,  and  as  they  come  near  you,  your  light  goes  out. 
Strike  another  match.  Ah!  this  is  a  babe,  not  like  those 
beautiful  children  presented  in  baptism.  This  little  one 
never  smiled;  it  never  will  smile.  A  flower  flung  on  an 
awfully  barren  beach.  Oh,  Heavenly  Shepherd,  fold  that 
little  one  in  thy  arms.  Wrap  around  you  your  shawl  or  your 
coat  tighter,  for  the  cold  wind  sweeps  through.  Strike 
another  match.  Ah!  is  it  possible  that  that  young  woman's 
scarred  and  bruised  face  ever  was  looked  into  by  maternal 
tenderness?  Utter  no  scorn.  Utter  no  harsh  word.  No  ray 
of  hope  has  dawned  on  that  brow  for  many  a  year.  No  ray 
of  hope  ever  will  dawn  on  that  brow.  But  the  light  has  gone 
out.  Do  not  strike  another  light.  It  would  be  a  mockery  to 
kindle  another  light  in  such  a  place  as  that.  Pass  out  and 
pass  down  the  street.  All  our  great  cities  are  full  of  such 
homes,  and  the  worst  time  the  third  watch  of  the  night. 

Do  you  know  it  is  in  this  third  watch  of  the  night  that 


68  DARK  DEEDS. 


DARK  DEEDS. 


69 


criminals  do  their  worst  work?  It  is  the  criminal's  watch. 
At  8:30  o'clock  you  will  find  them  in  the  drinking  saloon, 
but  toward  12  o'clock  they  go  to  their  garrets,  they  get  out 
their  tools,  then  they  start  on  the  street.  Watching  on  either 
side  for  the  police,  they  go  to  their  work  of  darkness.  This 
is  a  burglar,  and  the  false  key  will  soon  touch  the  store  lock. 
This  is  an  incendiary,  and  before  morning  there  will  be  a 
light  on  the  sky,  and  a  cry  of  "Fire!  fire!"  This  is  an 
assassin,  and  to-morrow  morning  there  will  be  a  dead  body 
in  one  of  the  vacant  lots.  During  the  daytime  these  villains 
in  our  cities  lounge  about,  some  asleep  and  some  awake,  but 
when  the  third  watch  of  the  night  arrives,  their  eye  keen, 
their  brain  cool,  their  arm  strong,  their  foot  fleet  to  fly  or 
pursue,  they  are  ready.  Many  of  these  poor  creatures  were 
brought  up  in  that  way.  They  were  born  in  a  thieves'  gar- 
ret. Their  childish  toy  was  a  burglar's  dark  lantern.  The 
first  thing  they  remember  was  their  mother  bandaging  the 
brow  of  their  father,  struck  by  the  police  club.  They  began 
by  robbing  boys'  pockets,  and  now  they  have  come  to  dig  the 
underground  passage  to  the  cellar  of  the  bank,  and  are  pre- 
paring to  blast  the  gold  vault.  Just  so  long  as  there  are 
neglected  clildren  of  the  street,  just  so  long  we  will  have 
these  desperadoes.  Some  one,  wishing  to  make  a  good 
Christian  point  and  to  quote  a  passage  of  Scripture,  expecting 
to  get  a  Scriptural  passage  in  answer,  said  to  one  of  these 
poor  lads,  cast  out  and  wretched:  4 4  When  your  father  and 
your  mother  forsake  you,  who,  then,  will  take  you  up?  "  and 
the  boy  said:  "  The  perlice,  the  perlice!  " 

In  the  third  watch  of  the  night  gambling  does  its  worst 
work.  What  though  the  hours  be  slipping  away,  and  though 
the  wife  be  waiting  in  the  cheerless  home?  Stir  up  the  fire. 
JBring  on  more  drinks.  Put  up  more  stakes.  That  commer- 
«ial  house  that  only  a  little  while  ago  put  out  a  sign  of 
copartnership  will  this  winter  be  wrecked  on  a  gambler's 
table.    There  will  be  many  a  money-till  that  will  spring  a 


70 


DARK  DEEDS. 


leak.  A  member  of  Congress  gambled  with  a  member  elect 
and  won  one  hundred  and  twenty  thousand  dollars.  The 
old  way  of  getting  a  living  is  so  slow.  The  old  way  of  get- 
ting a  fortune  is  so  stupid.  Come,  let  us  toss  up  and  see 
who  shall  have  it.  And  so  the  work  goes  on,  from  the 
wheezing  wretches  pitching  pennies  in  a  rum  grocery  up  to 
the  millionaire  gambler  in  the  stock  market.  In  the  third 
watch  of  the  night,  pass  down  the  streets  of  these  cities,  and 
you  hear  the  click  of  the  dice,  and  the  sharp,  keen  stroke  of 
the  ball  on  the  billiard-table.  At  these  places  merchant 
princes  dismount,  and  legislators,  tired  of  making  laws,  take 
a  respite  in  breaking  them.  All  classes  of  people  are  robbed 
by  this  crime — the  importer  of  foreign  silks  and  the  dealer 
in  Chatham  street  pocket  handkerchiefs.  The  clerks  of  the 
store  take  a  hand  after  the  shutters  are  put  up,  and  the 
officers  of  the  court  while  away  their  time  while  the  jury  is 
out.  In  Baden-Baden,  when  that  city  was  the  greatest  of  all 
gambling  places  on  earth,  it  was  no  unusual  thing  the  next 
morning,  in  the  woods  around  about  the  city,  to  find  the 
suspended  bodies  of  suicides.  "Whatever  be  the  splendor  of 
the  surroundings,  there  is  no  excuse  for  this  crime.  The 
thunders  of  eternal  destruction  roll  in  the  deep  rumble  of  that 
gambling  ten-pin  alley,  and  as  men  come  out  to  join  the  long 
procession  of  sin,  all  the  drums  of  death  beat  the  dead-march 
of  a  thousand  souls.  In  one  year,  in  the  city  of  New  York, 
there  were  seven  million  dollars  sacrificed  at  the  gaming 
table.  Perhaps  some  of  your  friends  have  been  smitten 
by  it. 

Look  out  for  those  agents  of  iniquity  who  tarry  round 
about  the  hotels,  and  ask  you:  "  Would  you  like  to  see  the 
city?"  "Yes."  ' '  Have  you  ever  seen  that  splendid  build- 
ing up  town?  "  ' '  No."  Then  the  villian  will  undertake  to 
show  you  what  he  calls  the  "lions"  and  the  "elephants,"  and 
after  a  young  man,  through  morbid  curiosity  or  through  bad- 
ness of  soul,  has  seen  the  "  lions  "  and  the  "  elephants,"  he 


DARK  DEEDS. 


71 


will  be  on  enchanted  ground.  Look  out  for  these  men  who 
move  around  the  hotels  with  sleek  hats,  and  patronizing  air, 
and  unaccountable  interest  about  your  welfare  and  entertain- 
ment. You  are  a  fool  if  you  can  not  see  through  it.  They 
want  your  money.  On  Chestnut  street,  in  Philadelphia, 
while  I  was  living  in  that  city,  an  incident  occurred  which 
was  familiar  to  us  there.  A  young  man  went  into  a  gamb- 
ling saloon,  lost  all  his  property,  then  blew  his  brains  out, 
and  before  the  blood  was  washed  from  the  floor  by  the  maid 
the  comrades  were  shufflng  cards  again.  You  see  there  is 
more  mercy  in  the  highwayman  for  the  belated  traveler  on 
whose  body  he  heaps  the  stones,  there  is  more  mercy  in 
the  frost  for  the  flower  that  it  kills,  there  is  more  mercy  in 
the  hurricane  that  shivers  the  steamer  on  the  Long  Island 
coast,  than  there  is  mercy  in  the  heart  of  a  gambler  for  his 
victim. 

In  the  third  watch  of  the  night,  also,  drunkenness  does 
its  worst.  The  drinking  will  be  respectable  at  8  o'clock  in 
the  evening,  a  little  flushed  at  9,  talkative  and  garrulous  at 
10,  at  11  blasphemous,  at  12  the  hat  falls  off,  at  1  the  man 
falls  to  the  floor  asking  for  more  drink.  Strewn  through  the 
drinking  saloons  of  the  city,  fathers,  brothers,  husbands,  sons 
as  good  as  you  are  by  nature,  perhaps  better.  In  the  high 
circles  of  society  it  is  hushed  up.  A  merchant*  prince,  if  he 
gets  noisy  and  uncontrollable,  is  taken  by  his  fellow-rev- 
elers, who  try  to  get  him  to  bed,  or  take  him  home,  where 
he  falls  flat  in  the  entry.  Do  not  wake  up  the  children. 
They  have  had  disgrace  enough.  Do  not  let  them  know  it. 
Hush  it  up.  But  sometimes  it  can  not  be  hushed  up,  when 
the  rum  touches  the  brain  and  the  man  becomes  thoroughly 
frenzied.  Such  a  one  came  home,  having  been  absent  for 
some  time  and  during  his  absence  his  wife  had  died,  and  she 
lay  in  the  next  room  prepared  for  the  obsequies,  and  he  went 
in  and  dragged  her  by  the  locks,  and  shook  hereout  of  her 
shroud,  and  pitched  her  out  of  the  window. 


72 


DAEK  DEEDS. 


Oh !  when  rum  touches  the  brain  you  can  not  hush  it  up. 
My  friends,  you  see  all  round  about  you  the  need  that  some- 
thing  radical  be  done.  You  do  not  see  the  worst.  In  the 
midnight  meetings  in  London  a  great  multitude  have  been 
saved.  We  want  a  few  hundred  Christian  men  and  women 
to  come  down  from  the  highest  circles  of  society  to  toil  amid 
these  wandering  and  destitute  ones,  and  kindle  up  a  light  in 
the  dark  alley,  even  the  gladness  of  heaven.  Do  not  go 
wrapped  in  your  fine  furs  and  from  your  well-filled  tables 
with  the  idea  that  pious  talk  is  going  to  stop  the  gnawing  of 
an  empty  stomach,  or  to  warm  stockingless  feet.  Take 
bread,  take  raiment,  take  medicine  as  well  as  take  prayer. 
There  is  a  great  deal  of  common  sense  in  what  the  poor 
woman  said  to  the  city  missionary,  when  he  was  telling  her 
how  she  ought  to  love  God  and  serve  him.  "  Oh,"  she  said, 
"  if  you  were  as  poor  and  cold  as  I  am,  and  as  hungry,  you 
could  think  of  nothing  else."  A  great  deal  of  what  is  called 
Christian  work  goes  for  nothing,  for  the  simple  reason  it 
is  not  practical,  as  after  the  battle  of  Antietam  a  man  got 
out  erf  an  ambulance  with  a  bag  of  tracts,  and  he  went  dis- 
tributing the  tracts,  and  George  Stuart,  one  of  the  best 
Christian  men  in  this  country,  said  to  him :  "  What  are  you 
distributing  tracts  for  now?  There  are  three  thousand  men 
bleeding  to  death.  Bind  up  their  wounds,  and  then  distrib- 
ute the  tracts," 

We  want  more  common  sense  in  Christian  work,  taking 
the  bread  of  this  life  in  one  hand  and  the  bread  of  the  next 
life  in  the  other  hand.  No  such  inapt  work  as  that  done  by 
the  Christian  man  who,  during  the  last  war,  went  into  a  hos- 
pital with  tracts,  and,  coming  to  the  bed  of  a  man  whose  legs 
had  been  amputated,  gave  him  a  tract  on  the  sin  of  danc- 
ing! I  rejoice  before  God  that  never  are  sympathetic  words 
uttered,  never  a  prayer  offered,  never  a  Christian  alms-giving 
indulged  in  but  it  is  blessed.  There  is  a  place  in  Switzer- 
land, I  have  been  told,  where  the  utterance  of  one  word  will 


DARK  DEEDS. 


73 


bring  back  a  score  of  echoes ;  and  I  tell  you  that  a  sympa- 
thetic word,  a  kind  word,  a  generous  word,  a  helpful  word, 
uttered  in  the  dark  places  of  the  town,  will  bring  back  ten 
thousand  echoes  from  all  the  thrones  of  heaven.  Those  who 
know  by  experience  the  tragedies  in  the  third  watch  of  the 
night  I  would  not  thrust  back  by  one  haid  word.  Take  the 
bandage  from  your  bruised  soul,  and  put  on  it  the  soothing- 
salve  of  Christ's  Gospel  and  of  God's  compassion.  Many 
have  come  others  are  coming  to  God,  tired  of  the  sinful  life. 
Cry  up  the  news  to  heaven.  Set  all  the  bells  ringing. 
Spread  the  banquet  under  the  arches.  Let  the  crowned 
heads  come  down  and  sit  at  the  jubilee.  I  tell  you  there  is 
more  delight  in  heaven  over  one  man  who  becomes  reformed 
by  the  grace  of  God  than  over  ninety  and  nine  who  never  get 
off  the  track. 

I  could  give  you  the  history  in  a  minute  of  one  of  the  best 
friends  I  ever  had.  Outside  of  my  own  family  I  never  had 
a  better  friend.  He  welcomed  me  to  his  home  at  the  West. 
He  was  of  splendid  personal  appearance,  but  he  had  an  ardor 
of  soul  and  a  warmth  of  affection  that  made  me  love  him  like 
a  brother.  I  saw  men  coming  out  of  the  saloons  and  gam- 
bling hells,  and  they  surrounded  my  friend  and  they  took 
him  at  the  weak  point,  his  social  nature,  and  I  saw  him  go- 
ing down,  and  I  had  a  fair  talk  with  him — for  I  never  yet 
saw  a  young  man  you  could  not  talk  with  on  the  subject  of 
his  habits,  if  you  talked  to  him  in  the  right  way.  I  said  to 
him :  "  Why  don't  you  give  up  your  bad  habits  and  become 
a  Christian?  "  1  remember  now  just  how  he  looked,  leaning 
over  his  counter,  as  he  replied:  "I  wish  I  could.  Oh,  sir,  I 
should  like  to  be  a  Christian,  but  I  have  gone  so  far  astray 
that  I  can't  get  back."  So  the  time  went  on.  After  awhile 
the  day  of  sickness  came.  I  was  summoned  to  his  sick  bed. 
I  hastened.  It  took  me  but  a  very  few  moments  to  get  there. 
I  was  surprised  as  I  went  in.  I  saw  him  in  his  ordinary 
dress,  fully  dressed,  lying  on  the  top  of  the  bed.    I  gave  him 


74 


DARK  DEEDS. 


my  hand,  and  he  seized  it  convulsively  and  said:  "  Oh,  how 
glad  I  am  to  see  you!    Sit  down  there.' '    I  sat  down  and  he 
said:  "  Mr.  Talmage,  just  where  you  sit  now  my  mother  sat 
last  night.    She  has  been  dead  twenty  years.    Now,  I  don't 
want ,  you  to  think  I  am  out  of  my  mind,  or  that  I  am 
superstitious;  but,  sir,  she  sat  there  last  night  just  as  cer- 
tainly as  you  sit  there  now — the  same  cap  and  apron 
and  spectacles.    It  was  my  old  mother — she  sat  there.' ' 
Then  he  turned  to  his  wife  and  said :  "  I  wish  you  would 
take  these  strings  off  the  bed;  somebody  is  wrapping  strings 
around  me  all  the  time.    I  wish  you  would  stop  that  annoy- 
ance."   She  said:  44  There  is  nothing  here."    Then  I  saw  it 
was  delirium.    He  said:  "  Just  where  you   sit  now  my 
mother  sat,  and  she  said:  'Boswell,  I  wish  you  would  do 
better — I  wish  you  would  do  better.'    I  said:  4  Mother,  I 
wish  I  could  do  better;  I  try  to  do  better,  but  I  can't. 
Mother,  you  used  to  help  me;  why  can't  you  help  me  now?  ' 
And  sir,  I  got  out  of  bed,  for  it  was  a  reality,  and  I  went  to 
her,  and  threw  my  arms  around  her  neck,  and  I  said: 
4  Mother,  I  will  do  better,  but  you  must  help;  I  can't  do  this 
alone.'    I  knelt  down  and  prayed."    That  night  his  soul 
went  to  the  Lord  who  made  it.    Arrangements  were  made 
for  the  obsequies.    The  question  was  raised  whether  they 
should  bring  him  to  the  church.    Somebody  said:  44  You  can 
not  bring  such  a  dissolute  man  as  that  into  the  church."  I 
said :  44  You  will  bring  him  into  the  church ;  he  stood  by  me 
when  he  was  alive,  and  I  will  stand  by  him  when  he  is  dead. 
Bring  him  in."  As  I  stood  in  the  pulpit  and  saw  them  carry- 
ing the  body  up  the  aisle,  I  felt  as  if  I  could  weep  tears  of 
blood.    On  one  side  of  the  pulpit  sat  his  little  child  of  8 
years,  a  sweet,  beautiful  little  girl  that  I  have  seen  him  hug 
convulsively  in  his  better  moments.    He  put  on  her  all  jew- 
els, all  diamonds,  and  gave  her  all  pictures  and  toys,  and 
then  he  would  go  away  as  if  hounded  by  an  evil  spirit,  to  his 
cups  and  the  house  of  shame — a  fool  to  the  correction  of 


DARK  DEEDS. 


75 


the  stocks.  She  looked  up  wondermgly.  She  knew  not 
what  it  all  meant.  She  was  not  old  enough  to  understand 
the  sorrow  of  an  orphan  child.  On  the  other  side  of  the  pul- 
pit sat  the  men  who  had  ruined  him;  they  were  the  men  who 
had  poured  the  wormwood  into  the  orphan's  cup;  they  were 
the  men  who  had  bound  him  hand  and  foot.  I  knew  them. 
How  did  they  seem  to  feel?  Did  they  weep?  No.  Did 
they  say:  i '  What  a  pity  that  so  generous  a  man  should  be  de- 
stroyed? "  No.  Did  they  sigh  repentingly  over  what  they 
had  done?  No;  they  sat  there,  looking  as  vultures  look  at 
the  carcase  of  a  lamb  whose  heart  they  had  ripped  out.  So 
they  sat  and  looked  at  the  coffin  lid,  and  I  told  them  of  the 
judgment  of  God  upon  those  who  had  destroj'ed  their  fel- 
lows. Did  they  reform?  I  was  told  they  were  in  the  places 
of  iniquity  the  night  after  my  friend  was  laid  in  Oakwood 
Cemetery,  and  they  blasphemed  and  they  drank.  Oh,  how 
merciless  men  are,  especially  after  they  have  destroyed  you. 
Do  not  look  to  men  for  comfort  or  help.    Look  to  God. 

But  there  is  a  man  who  will  not  reform.  He  says:  "  I 
won't  reform."  Well  then  how  many  acts  are  there  in  a 
tragedy?  I  believe  five.  Act  the  first  of  the  tragedy — A 
young  man  starting  off  from  home.  Parents  and  sisters 
weeping  to  have  him  go.  Wagon  rising  over  the  hill.  Fare- 
well kiss  flung  back.  King  the  bell  and  let  the  curtain  fall. 
Act  the  second :  The  marriage  altar.  Full  organ.  Bright 
lights.  Long  white  veil  trailing  through  the  aisle.  Prayer 
and  congratulation,  and  exclamation  of  "How  well  she 
looks !  "  Act  the  third :  A  woman  waiting  for  staggering  steps. 
Old  garments  stuck  into  the  broken  window  pane.  Marks 
of  hardship  on  the  face.  The  biting  of  the  nails  of  bloodless 
fingers.  Neglect  and  cruelty  and  despair.  King  the  bell 
and  let  the  curtain  drop.  Act  the  fourth :  Three  graves  in  a 
dark  place — grave  of  the  child  that  died  for  lack  of  medicine, 
grave  of  the  wife  that  died  of  a  broken  heart,  grave  of  the 
man  that  died  of  dissipation.    Oh!  what  a  blasted  heath 


76 


DARK  DEEDS. 


with  three  graves!  Plenty  of  weeds,  but  no  flowers.  Eing 
the  bell  and  let  the  curtain  drop.  Act  the  fifth :  A  destroyed 
soul's  eternity.  No  light;  no  music;  no  hope;  anguish  coil- 
ing its  serpents  around  the  heart;  blackness  of  darkness  for- 


THE  MARRIAGE  ALTAR. 


ever.  But  I  can  not  look  any  longer.  Woe !  woe !  I  close 
my  eyes  to  this  last  act  of  the  tragedy.  Quick!  quick!  ring 
the  bell  and  let  the  curtain  drop.  "  Kejoice,  0  young  man,  in 
thy  youth,  and  let  thy  heart  rejoice  in  the  days  of  thy  youth, 
but  know  thou  that  for  all  these  things  God  will  bring  you 
into  judgment.  "  "  There  is  a  way  that  seemeth  right  to  a 
man,  but  the  end  thereof  is  death." 


CHAPTER  IT. 


THE  BABYLONIAN  FEAST. 

Feasting  has  been  known  in  all  ages.  It  was  one  of  the 
most  exciting  times  in  English  history  when  Queen  Elizabeth 
visited  Lord  Leicester  at  Kenilworth  Castle.  The  moment 
of  her  arrival  was  considered  so  important  that  all  the  clocks 
of  the  castle  were  stopped,  so  that  the  hands  might  point  to 
that  one  moment  as  being  the  most  significant  of  all.  She 
was  greeted  at  the  gate  with  floating  islands,  and  torches, 
and  the  thunder  of  cannon,  and  fireworks  that  set  the  night 
ablaze,  and  a  great  burst  of  music  that  lifted  the  whole  scene 
into  perfect  enchantment.  Then  she  was  introduced  •  into  a 
dining-hall  the  luxuries  of  which  astonished  the  world;  four 
hundred  servants  waited  upon  the  guests;  the  entertainment 
cost  five  thousand  dollars  each  day.  Lord  Liecester  made 
that  great  supper  in  Kenilworth  Castle. 

Cardinal  Wolsey  entertained  the  French  Embassadors  at 
Hampton  Court.  The  best  cooks  in  a^l  the  land  prepared  for 
the  banquet;  purveyors  went  out  and  traveled  all  the  king- 
dom over  to  find  spoils  for  the  table.  The  time  came.  The 
guests  were  kept  during  the  day  hunting  in  the  King's  park,  so 
that  their  appetites  might  be  keen;  and  then  in  the  evening,  to 
the  sound  of  the  trumpeters,  they  were  introduced  into  a  hall 
hung  with  silk  and  cloth  of  gold,  and  there  were  tables  a  glit- 
ter with  imperial  plate,  and  laden  with  the  rarest  meats,  and 
ablush  with  the  costliest  wines; and  when  the  second  course  of 
the  feast  came  it  was  found  that  the  articles  of  food  had  been 
fashioned  into  the  shape  of  men,  birds  and  beasts,  and  groups 
dancing,  and  jousting  parties  riding  against  each  other  with 
ances.    Lords  and  princes  and   embassadors  out  of  cups 

(77) 


78  THE  BABYLONIAN  FEAST. 

filled  to  the  briin  drank  the  health,  first  of  the  King  of  Eng- 
land, and  next  of  the  King  of  France.  Cardinal  Woolsey 
prepared  that  great  supper  at  Hampton  Court. 


QUEEN  ELIZABETH. 

The  Babylonian  feast  was  a  more  exciting  banquet.  Night 
was  about  to  come  down  upon  the  city.  The  shadow  of  her 
two  hundred  and  fifty  six  towers  began  to  lengthen.  The 
Euphrates  rolled  on,  touched  by  the  fiery  splendors  of  the 
setting  sun,  and  gates  of  brass,  burnished  and  glittering, 


THE   BABYLONIAN  FEAST. 


79 


opened  and  shut  like  doors  or  flame.  The  hanging  gardens 
of  Babylon,  wet  with  heavy  dew,  began  to  pour  from  starlit 
flowers  and  dripping  leaf  a  fragrance  for  many  miles  around. 
The  streets  and  squares  were  lighted  for  dance  and  frolic  and 


THE  HANGING  GARDENS  OF  BABYLON. 


promenade.  The  theaters  and  galleries  of  art  invited  the 
wealth  and  pomp  and  grandeur  of  the  city  to  rare  entertain- 
ments. Scenes  of  riot  and  wassail  were  mingled  in  every 
street,  and  godless  mirth  and  outrageous  excess  and  splendid 
wickedness  came  to  the  King's  palace  to  do  their  mightiest 
deeds  of  darkness.  A  royal  feast  to-night  at  the  King's  pal- 
ace! Bushing  up  to  the  gates  are  chariots  upholstered  with 
precious  cloths  from  Dedan  and  drawn  by  fire-eyed  horses 
from  Togarmah  that  rear  and  neigh  in  the  grasp  of  the  chari- 
oteers; while  a  thousand  lords  dismount,  and  women  dressed 
in  all  the  splendor  of  Syrian  emerald,  and  the  color  blending 
of  agate,  and  the  chasteness  of  coral,  and  the  somber  glory  of 
Tyrian  purple,  and  princelv  embroideries  brought  from  afar 


80 


THE  BABYLONIAN  FEAST. 


by  camels  across  the  desert  and  by  ships  of  Tarshish  across 
the  sea.  Open  wide  the  gates  and  let  the  guests  come  in! 
The  chamberlains  and  cup-bearers  are  all  ready.  Hark  to 
the  rustle  of  the  silks  and  to  the  carol  of  the  music!  See  the 
blaze  of  the  jewels!  Lift  the  banners !  Fill  the  cups!  Clap 
the  cymbals !  Blow  the  trumpets !  Let  the  night  go  by  with 
song  and  dance  and  ovation;  and  let  that  Babylonish  tongue 
be  palsied  that  will  not  say:  "  Oh,  King  Belshazzar,  live  for- 
ever." 

Ah,  my  readers !  It  was  not  any  common  banquet  to 
which  these  great  people  came.  All  parts  of  the  earth  had 
sent  their  richest  viands  to  that  table.  Brackets  and  chandel- 
iers flashed  their  light  upon  the  tankards  of  burnished  gold. 
Fruits,  ripe  and  luscious,  in  baskets  of  silver  entwined  with 
leaves,  plucked  from  royal  conservatories.  Vases  inlaid  with 
emerald  and  ridged  with  exquisite  traceries,  filled  with  nuts 
that  were  threshed  from  forests  of  distant  lands.  Wine 
brought  from  the  royal  vats,  foaming  in  the  decanters  and 
bubbling  in  the  chalices.  Tufts  of  cassia  and  frankincense 
wafting  their  sweetness  from  wall  and  table.  Gorgeous  ban- 
ners unfolding  in  the  breeze  that  came  through  the  opened 
window,  bewitched  with  the  perfume  of  hanging  gardens. 
Fountains  rising  up  from  inclosures  of  ivory  in  jets  of  crys- 
tal, to  fall  in  clustering  rain  of  diamonds  and  pearls.  Stat- 
ues of  mighty  men  looking  down  from  niches  in  the  wall 
upon  crowns  and  shields  brought  from  subdued  empires.  Idols 
of  wonderful  work  standing  on  pedestals  of  precious  stones. 
Embroideries  drooping  about  the  windows  and  wrapping  pil- 
lars of  cedar,  and  drifting  on  floor  inlaid  with  ivory  and 
agate.  Music,  mingling  with  the  thrum  of  harps,  and  the  clash 
of  cymbals,  and  the  blast  of  trumpets  in  one  wave  of  transport 
that  went  rippling  along  the  wall  and  breathing  among  the 
garlands,  and  pouring  down  the  corridors,  and  thrilling  the 
souls  of  a  thousand  banqueters.  The  signal  is  given,  and 
the  lords  and  ladies,  the  mighty  men  and  women  of  the  land? 


THE  BABYLONIAN  FEAST. 


81 


come  around  the  table.  Pour  out  the  wine  I  Let  foam  and 
bubble  kiss  the  rim !  Hoist  every  one  his  cup  and  drink  to 
the  sentiment;  "  0,  King  Belshazzar,  live  forever!"  Be- 
starred  headband  and  carcanet  of  royal  beauty  gleam  to  the 
uplifted  chalices,  as  again  and  again  and  again  they  are 
emptied.  Away  with  care  from  the  palace.  Tear  royal  dig- 
nity to  tatters.  Pour  out  more  wine !  Give  us  more  light, 
wilder  music,  sweeter  perfume !  Lord  shouts  to  lord,  captain 
ogles  to  captain.  Goblets  clash,  decanters  rattle.  There 
come  in  the  obscene  song  and  the  drunken  hiccough,  and  the 
slavering  lip  and  the  guffaw  of  idiotic  laughter,  bursting 
from  the  lips  of  princes,  flushed,  reeling,  bloodshot;  while 
mingling  with  it  all  I  hear:  "Huzza,  huzza,  for  great  Bel- 
shazzar!" 

What  is  that  on  the  plastering  of  the  wall?  Is  it  a  spirit? 
Is  it  a  phantom?  Is  it  God?  The  music  stops.  The  gob- 
lets fall  from  the  nerveless  grasp.  There  is  a  thrill.  There 
is  a  start.  There  is  a  thousand-voiced  shriek  of  horror.  Let 
Daniel  be  brought  in  to  read  that  writing.  He  comes  in. 
He  reads  it:  "  Weighed  in  the  balances  and  found  wanting." 
Meanwhile  the  Assyrians,  who  for  two  years  had  been  laying 
a  siege  to  that  city,  took  advantage  of  that  carousal  and  came 
in.  I  hear  the  feet  of  the  conquerors  on  the  palace  stairs. 
Massacre  rushes  in  with  a  thousand  gleaming  knives.  Death 
bursts  upon  the  scene;  and  I  shut  the  door  of  that  banquet- 
ing hall,  for  I  do  not  want  to  look.  There  is  nothing  there 
but  torn  banners  and  broken  wreaths,  and  the  slush  of  upset 
tankards,  and  the  blood  of  murdered  women,  and  the  kicked 
and  tumbled  carcase  of  a  dead  king.  For  "in  that  night 
was  Belshazzar  slain." 

I  learn,  from  reading  the  writing  on  the  wall,  that  when 
God  writes  anything  a  man  had  better  read  it  as  it  is.  Daniel 
did  not  misinterpret  or  modify  the  handwriting  on  the  wall. 
It  is  all  foolishness  to  expect  a  minister  of  the  gospel  to 
preach  always  things  that  the  people  like  or  the  people 


82 


THE  BABYLONIAN  FEAST. 


choose.  Shall  I  tell  you  of  the  dignity  of  human  nature? 
Shall  I  tell  you  of  the  wonders  that  our  race  has  accom- 
plished? "  Oh,  no,"  you  say,  "  tell  me  of  the  message  that 
came  from  God."  If  there  is  any  handwriting  on  the  wall  it 
is  this  lesson:  "  Eepent,  accept  of  Christ  and  be  saved."  I 
might  write  of  a  great  many  other  things,  but  that  is  the 
message,  and  so  I  declare  it.  Jesus  never  flattered  those  to 
whom  he  preached.  He  said  to  those  who  did  wrong  and 
who  were  offensive  in  his  sight:  ' 1  Ye  generation  of  vipers! 
Ye  whited  sepulchers !  How  can  ye  escape  the  damnation  of 
hell?"  Paul  the  Apostle  preached  before  a  man  who  was 
not  ready  to  hear  him  preach.  What  subject  did  he  take? 
Did  he  say:  "  Oh,  you  are  a  good  man,  a  very  fine  man,  a 
very  noble  man? "  No;  he  preached  of  righteousness  to  a 
man  who  was  unrighteous ;  of  temperance  to  a  man  who  was 
the  victim  of  bad  appetites;  of  the  judgment  to  come  to  a 
man  who  was  unfit  for  it.  So  we  must  always  declare  the 
message  that  happens  to  come  to  us.  Daniel  must  read  it 
as  it  is.  A  minister  preached  before  James  I.  of  England, 
who  was  James  VI.  of  Scotland.  What  subject  did  he  take? 
The  king  was  noted  all  over  the  world  for  being  unsettled 
and  wavering  in  his  ideas.  What  did  the  minister  preach 
about  to  this  man  who  was  James  I.  of  England  and  James 
VI.  of  Scotland?  He  took  for  his  text:  "  He  that  wavereth 
is  like  a  wave  of  the  sea  driven  with  the  wind  and  tossed." 
— James  i.,  6.  Hugh  Latimer  offended  the  king  by  a  ser- 
mon he  preached,  and  the  king  said  "  Come  and  apologize." 
"  I  will,"  said  Hugh  Latimer.  So  the  day  was  appointed, 
and  the  king's  chapel  was  full  of  lords  and  dukes,  and  the 
mighty  men  and  women  of  the  country,  for  Hugh  Lati- 
mer was  to  apologize.  He  began  his  sermon  by  saying: 
"  Hugh  Latimer,  bethink  thee!  Thou  art  in  the  presence  of 
thine  earthly  king,  who  can  destroy  thy  body!  But  bethink 
thee,  Hugh  Latimer,  that  thou  art  in  the  presence  of  the 
King  of  heaven  and  earth,  who  can  destroy  both  body  and 
soul  in  hell  fire.    0  king,  cursed  be  thy  crimes." 


THE  BABYLONIAN  FEAST. 


83 


There  is  a  great  difference  between  the  opening  of  the 
banquet  of  sin  and  its  close.  Young  man,  if  you  had 
looked  in  upon  the  banquet  in  the  first  few  hours  you 
would  have  wished  you  had  been  invited  there  and  could 
sit  at  the  feast.  "O,  the  grandeur  of  Belshazzar's  feast," 
you  would  have  said;  but  you  look  in  at  the  close  of  the 
banquet  and  your  blood  curdles  with  horror.  The  King 
of  Terrors  has  there  a  ghastlier  banquet;  human  blood  is 
the  wine  and  dying  groans  are  the  music.  Sin  has  made 
itself  a  king  in  the  earth.  It  has  crowned  itself.  It  has 
spread  a  banquet.  lb  invites  all  the  world  to  come  to  it. 
It  has  hung  in  its  banqueting  hall  the  spoils  of  all  king- 
doms and  the  banners  of  all  nations.  It  has  gathered  from 
all  music.  It  has  strewn  from  its  wealth  the  table  and  floors 
and  arches.  And  yet  how  often  is  that  banquet  broken  up, 
and  how  horrible  is  its  end!  Ever  and  anon  there  is  a 
handwriting  on  the  wall.  A  king  falls.  A  great  culprit  is 
arrested.  The  knees  of  wickedness  knocked  together.  God's 
judgment,  like  an  armed  host,  breaks  in  upon  the  banquet, 
and  that  night  is  Belshazzar,  the  King  of  the  Chaldeans, 
slain.  Here  is  a  young  man  who  says:  " 1  can  not  see  why 
they  make  such  a  fuss  about  the  intoxicating  cup.  Why,  it 
is  exhilarating.  It  makes  me  feel  well.  I  can  talk  better, 
think  better,  feel  better.  I  can  not  see  why  people  have  such 
a  prejudice  against  it."  A  few  years  pass  on  and  he  wakes 
up  and  finds  himself  in  the  clutches  of  an  evil  habit  which 
he  tries  to  break,  but  can  not;  and  he  cries  out:  "  0  Lord 
God,  help  me !  "  It  seems  as  though  God  would  not  hear 
his  prayer,  and  in  an  agony  of  body  and  soul  he  cries  out: 
"It  biteth  like  a  serpent  and  it  stingeth  like  an  adder!" 
How  bright  it  was  at  the  start!  how  black  it  was  at  the 
last! 

Here  is  a  man  who  begins  to  read  French  novels.  "  They 
are  so  charming,"  he  says:  "I  will  go  out  and  see  for  myself 
whether  all  these  things  are  so,"    He  opens  the  gate  of  a 


84 


THE   BABYLONIAN  FEAST. 


sinful  life.  He  goes  in.  A  sinful  sprite  meets  him  with 
her  wand.  She  waves  her  wand  and  it  is  all  enchantment. 
Why,  it  seems  as  if  the  angels  of  God  had  poured  out 
phials  of  perfume  in  the  atmosphere.  As  he  walks  on  he 
finds  the  hills  becoming  more  radiant  with  foliage,  and  the 
ravines  more  resonant  with  the  falling  water.  0  what  a  charm- 
ing landscape  he  sees!  But  that  sinful  sprite  with  her  wand 
meets  him  again;  but  now  she  reverses  the  wand,  and  all  the 
enchantment  is  gone.  The  cup  is  full  of  poison.  The  fruit 
turns  to  ashes.  All  the  leaves  of  the  bower  are  forked  tongues 
of  hissing  serpents.  The  flowing  fountains  fall  back  in  a  dead 
pool,  stenchful  with  corruption.  The  luring  songs  become 
curses  and  screams  of  demoniac  laughter.  Lost  spirits  gather 
about  him,  and  feel  for  his  heart,  and  beckon  him  on  with : 
"  Hail,  brother!  Hail,  blasted  spirit,  hail!  "  He  tries  to 
get  out.  He  comes  to  the  front  door,  where  he  entered,  and 
tries  to  push  it  back,  but  the  door  turns  against  him.  Sin 
may  open  bright  as  the  morning;  it  closes  dark  as  the 
night. 

We  learn  further  from  this  writing  that  death  sometimes 
breaks  in  upon  a  banquet.  Why  did  he  not  go  down  to  the 
prison  in  Babylon?  There  were  people  there  that  would  like 
to  have  died.  I  suppose  there  were  men  and  women  in  tor- 
ture in  that  city  who  w^ould  have  welcomed  death.  But  he 
comes  to  the  palace  and  just  at  the  time  when  the  mirth  is 
dashing  to  the  tip-top  pitch  death  breaks  in  at  the  banquet. 
We  have  often  seen  the  same  thing  illustrated.  Here  is  a  young 
man  just  come  from  college.  He  is  kind.  He  is  loving.  He  is 
enthusiastic.  He  is  eloquent.  By  one  spring  he  may  bound 
to  heights  toward  which  many  men  have  been  struggling  for 
years.  A  profession  opens  before  him.  He  is  established  in 
the  law.  His  friends  cheer  him.  Eminent  men  encourage 
him.  After  awhile  you  may  see  him  standing  in  the  Ameri- 
can Senate,  or  moving  a  popular  assemblage  by  his  eloquence 
as  trees  are  moved  in  a  whirlwind.    Some  night  he  retires 


THE  BABYLONIAN  FEAST. 


85 


early.  A  fever  is  on  him.  Delirium  like  a  reckless  chari- 
oteer seizes  the  reins  of  his  intellect.  Father  and  mother 
stand  by  and  see  the  tides  of  life  going  out  to  the  great  ocean. 
The  banquet  is  coming  to  an  end.  The  lights  of  thought 
and  mirth  and  eloquence  are  being  extinguished.  The  gar- 
lands are  snatched  from  the  brow.  The  vision  is  gone.  Death 
at  the  banquet.  We  saw  the  same  thing  on  a  larger  scale  il- 
lustrated at  the  last  war  in  this  country.  Our  whole  nation 
had  been  sitting  at  a  national  banquet — North,  South,  East 
and  West.  What  grain  was  there  but  we  grew  it  on  our 
hills?  What  invention  was  there  but  our  rivers  must  turn 
the  new  wheel  and  rattle  the  strange  shuttle?  What  warm 
furs  but  our  trades  must  bring  them  from  the  Arctic?  What 
fish  but  our  nets  must  sweep  them  for  the  markets?  What 
music  but  it  must  sing  in  our  halls?  What  eloquence  but  it 
must  speak  in  our  Senates?  Ho!  to  the  national  banquet 
reaching  from  mountain  to  mountain  and  from  sea  to  sea ! 
To  prepare  that  banquet  the  sheepfold  and  the  aviaries  of 
the  country  sent  their  best  treasures.  The  orchards  piled  up 
on  the  table  their  sweetest  fruits.  The  presses  burst  out  with 
new  wines.  To  sit  at  that  table  came  the  yoemanry  of  New 
Hampshire,  and  the  lumbermen  of  Maine,  and  the  tanned 
Carolinian  from  the  rice  swamps,  and  the  harvesters  of  Wis- 
consin, and  the  Western  emigrant  from  the  pines  of  Oregon, 
and  we  were  all  brothers — brothers  at  a  banquet.  Suddenly 
the  feast  ended.  What  meant  those  mounds  thrown  up  at 
Chickahominy,Shiloh,  Atlanta,  Gettysburg,  South  Mountain? 
What  meant  those  golden  grain  fields  turned  into  a  pastur- 
ing ground  for  cavalry  horses?  What  meant  the  corn  fields 
gullied  with  the  wheels  of  the  heavy  supply  trains?  Why 
those  rivers  of  tears,  those  lakes  of  blood?  God  was  angry. 
Justice  must  come.  A  handwriting  on  the  wall!  The  na- 
tion has  been  weighed  and  found  wanting.  Darkness !  Dark- 
ness !  Woe  to  the  North !  Woe  to  the  South !  Woe  to  the 
East!    Woe  to  the  West!    Death  at  the  banquet! 


86 


THE  BABYLONIAN  FEAST. 


We  also  learn  that  the  destruction  of  the  vicious  and 
of  those  who  despise  God  will  be  very  sudden.  The  wave  of 
mirth  had  dashed  to  the  highest  point  when  that  Assyrian 
army  broke  through.  It  was  unexpected.  Suddenly,  almost 
always,  comes  the  doom  of  those  who  despise  God  and  defy 
the  laws  of  men.  How  was  it  at  the  Deluge?  Do  you  sup- 
pose it  came  through  a  long  northeast  storm,  so  that  people 
for  days  before  were  sure  it  was  coming?  No;  I  suppose  the 
morning  was  bright;  that  calmness  brooded  on  the  waters; 
that  beauty  sat  enthroned  on  the  hills,  when  suddenly  the 
heavens  burst,  and  the  mountains  sank  like  anchors  into  the 
sea,  that  dashed  clear  over  the  Andes  and  the  Himalayas. 
The  Eed  Sea  was  divided.  The  Egyptians  tried  to  cross  it. 
There  could  be  no  danger.  The  Israelites  had  just  gone 
through.  Where  they  had  gone  why  not  the  Egyptians? 
Oh,  it  was  such  a  beautiful  walking-place!  A  pavement  of 
tinged  shells  and  pearls,  and  on  either  side  two  great  walls 
of  water — solid.  There  can  be  no  danger.  Forward,  great 
host  of  the  Egyptians!  Clap  the  cymbals  and  blow  the 
trumpets  of  victory !  After  them !  We  will  catch  them  yet, 
and  they  shall  be  destroyed !  But  the  walls  of  solidified  water 
begin  to  tremble.  They  rock!  They  fall!  The  rushing 
waters!  The  shriek  of  drowning  men!  The  swimming  of 
the  war-horses  in  vain  for  the  shore !  The  strewing  of  the 
great  host  on  the  bottom  of  the  sea,  or  pitched  by  the  angry 
wave  on  the  beach — a  battered,  bruised  and  loathsome  wreck! 
Suddenly  destruction  came.  One  half  hour  before  they  could 
not  have  believed  it.  Destroyed  and  without  remedy.  I  am 
just  setting  forth  a  fact  when  you  have  noticed  as  well  as  I. 
Ananias  comes  to  the  apostle.  The  apostle  says :  "  Did  you 
sell  the  land  for  so  much?"  He  says :  "  Yes."  It  was  a  lie. 
Dead !  As  quick  as  a  flash !  Sapphira,  his  wife,  comes  in. 
"Did  you  sell  the  land  for  so  much?"  "Yes."  It  was  a 
lie,  and  just  as  quick  she  was  dead!  God's  judgments  are 
upon  those  who  despise  and  defy  him.  They  come  suddenly. 


THE  BABYLONIAN  FEAST. 


87 


The  destroying  angel  went  through  Egypt.  Do  you  suppose 
that  any  of  the  people  knew  that  he  was  coming?  Did  they 
hear  the  flap  of  his  great  wing?  No,  no.  Suddenly,  unex- 
pectedly he  came.  Skilled  sportsmen  do  not  like  to  shoot  a 
bird  standing  on  a  sprig  near  by.  If  they  are  skilled  they 
pride  themselves  on  taking  it  on  the  wing,  and  they  will  wait 
till  it  starts.  Death  is  an  old  sportsman,  and  he  loves  to 
take  them  on  the  wing. 

Are  there  any  of  my  readers  who  are  unprepared  for  the 
eternal  world?  Are  there  any  who  have  been  living  without 
God  and  without  hope?  Let  me  say  to  you  that  you  had  better 
accept  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  lest  suddenly  your  last  chance 
be  gone.  The  lungs  will  cease  to  breathe,  the  heart  will  stop. 
The  time  will  come  when  you  shall  go  no  more  to  the  office,  or 
to  the  store,  or  to  the  shop.  Nothing  will  be  left  but  death, 
and  judgment,  and  eternity.  Oh,  flee  to  God  this  hour!  If 
there  be  one  who  has  wandered  far  away  from  Christ,  though 
he  may  not  have  heard  the  call  of  the  gospel  for  many  a  year, 
I  invite  him  now  to  come  and  be  saved.  Flee  from  thy  sin! 
Flee  to  the  stronghold  of  the  gospel !  I  invite  you  to  a 
grander  banquet  than  any  I  have  mentioned.  My  Lord,  the 
King,  is  the  banqueter.  Angels  are  the  cupbearers.  All  the 
redeemed  are  the  guests.  The  halls  of  eternal  love,  frescoed 
with  light  and  paved  with  joy,  and  curtained  with  unfading 
beauty,  are  the  banqueting  place.  The  harmonies  of  eternity 
are  the  music.  The  chalices  of  heaven  are  the  plate ;  and  I 
am  one  of  the  servants  coming  out  with  both  hands  filled  with 
invitations,  scattering  them  everywhere :  and  of  that,  for 
yourselves,  you  might  break  the  seal  of  the  invitation  and 
read  the  words  written  in  red  ink  of  blood  by  the  tremulous 
hand  of  a  dying  Christ :  "  Come  now,  for  all  things  are 
ready. "  After  this  day  has  rolled  by  and  the  night  has  come 
may  you  have  rosy  sleep  guarded  by  him  who  never  slumbers. 
May  you  awake  in  the  morning  strong  and  well.  But,  oh, 
art  thou  a  despiser  of  God?    Is  the  coming  night  the  last 


88 


THE  BABYLONIAN  FEAST. 


night  on  earth?  Shouldst  thou  be  awakened  in  the  night  by 
something,  thou  knowest  not  what,  and  there  be  shadows 
floating  in  the  room,  and  a  handwriting  on  the  wall,  and  you 
feel  that  your  last  hour  is  come,  and  there  be  a  fainting  at 
the  heart  and  a  tremor  in  the  limb,  and*  a  catching  of  the 
breath— then  thy  doom  will  be  but  an  echo  of  the  words :  In 
that  night  was  Belshazzar,  the  king  of  the  Chaldeans,  slain. 


CHAPTER  V. 


HIGH  LICENSE,  THE  MONOPOLY  OF  ABOMINATION. 

We  are  at  a  point  in  reformatory  movements  in  this 
country  where  it  is  proposed  to  restrain  or  control  or  stop  the 
traffic  of  ardent  spirits  by  compelling  the  merchant  thereof  to 
pay  a  large  sum,  say  five  hundred  dollars  or  one  thousand  dol- 
lars as  a  license.  It  is  said  that  this  will  have  a  tendency  to 
close  up  all  the  small  drinkeries  which  curse  our  cities,  and 
only  a  few  men  can  afford  to  sell  intoxicating  drink.  This 
money,  raised  by  a  high  license,  it  is  said,  will  help  support 
the  poorhouses,  where  there  are  widows  and  orphans  sent 
there  by  the  dissipations  of  husbands  and  fathers.  This 
high  tax  will  help  support  the  prisons  in  which  men  are  in- 
carcerated for  committing  crimes  while  drunk.  This  high 
tax  will  help  support  the  Court  of  Oyer  and  Terminer,  whose 
judges,  and  attorneys,  and  constables,  and  juries,  and  police 
stations,  and  court  rooms  find  their  chief  employment  in  the 
arraignment,  trial  and  condemnation  of  those  who  offend  the 
law  while  in  a  state  of  insobriety.  How  any  man  or  woman 
in  favor  of  the  great  temperance  reform  can  be  so  hood- 
winked as  not  to  understand  that  this  high  license  movement 
is  the  surrender  of  all  the  temperance  reformation  for  which 
good  men  and  women  have  been  struggling  for  the  last  sixty 
years,  is  to  me  an  amazement  that  eclipses  everything. 

"  High  License  is  the  Monopoly  of  Abomination."  We 
must  realize  as  by  mathematical  demonstration,  that  the 
one  result  of  this  high  license  movement,  and  the  one 
result  of  the  closing  of  small  establishments — if  that  were 
the  result — and  the  opening  of  a  few  large  establishments, 


92       HIGH  LICENSE,  THE  MONOPOLY  OF  ABOMINATION. 

will  be  to  make  rum-selling  and  rum-drinking  highly  respec- 
table. These  drinkeries  in  our  own  cities  are  so  disgusting 
that  a  man  will  not  risk  his  reputation  by  going  in  them; 
and  if  a  young  man  should  be  found  coming  out  from  one  of 
those  low  establishments  he  would  lose  his  place  in  the  store. 


A  CONCERT  SALOON  BAND. 


Now,  suppose  all  these  small  establishments  are  closed  up 
and  that  then  you  open  the  palaces  of  inebriation  down  on 
the  avenues.  It  is  not  the  rookeries  of  alcoholism  that  do 
the  worst  work;  they  are  only  the  last  stopping-places  on  the 
road  to  death.  Where  did  that  bloated,  ulcerous,  wheezing 
wretch  that  staggers  out  of  a  rum-hole  get  his  habits  started? 
At  glittering  restaurant  or  bar-room  of  first-class  hotel,  where 
it  was  fashionable  to  go.    Ah !  my  friends,  it  seems  to  me 


HIGH  LICENSE,  THE  MONOPOLY  OF  ABOMINATION.  93 

the  disposition  is  to  stop  these  small  establishments,  which 
are  only  the  rash  on  the  skin  of  the  body  politic,  and 
then  to  gather  all  the  poison  and  the  pus  and  the  mattera- 
tion  into  a  few  great  carbuncles  which  mean  death.  I  say, 
give  us  the  rash  rather  than  the  carbuncles. 

Here  you  will  have  a  splendid  liquor  establishment. 
Masterpieces  of  painting  on  the  wall.  Cut  glass  on  silver 
platter.  Upholstery  like  a  Turkish  harem.  Uniformed 
servants  to  open  the  door,  uniformed  servants  to  take  your 
hat  and  cane.  Adjoining  rooms  with  luxuriant  divan  on 
which  you  can  recline  when  taken  mysteriously  ill  after  too 
much  champagne,  cognac,  or  old  Otard.  All  the  phantasma- 
goria and  bewitchery  of  art  thrown  around  this  Herod  of 
massacre,  this  Moloch  of  consumed  worshippers,  this  Jug- 
gernaut of  crushed  millions.  This  high  license  movement 
strikes  at  the  heart  of  the  best  homes  in  America ;  it  proposes 
the  fattest  lambs  for  its  sacrifice ;  it  is  at  war  with  the  most 
beautiful  domestic  circles  in  America.  Tell  to  all  the  philan- 
thropists who  are  trying  to  make  the  world  better,  and  let 
journalists  tell  it  by  pen  and  by  type  that  this  day  in  the 
presence  of  my  Maker  and  my  Judge  I  stamp  on  this  high-li- 
cense movement  as  the  monopoly  of  abomination.  It  pro- 
poses to  pave  with  honor,  to  pillar  with  splendor,  and  guard 
with  monopolistic  advantage  a  business,  which  has  made  the 
ground  hollow  under  England,  Ireland,  Scotland,  and  Amer- 
ica with  the  catacombs  of  slaughtered  drunkards. 

I  am  opposed  to  this  high  license  because  it  is  anti- 
American,  anti-common  sense,  anti-demonstrated  facts,  and 
anti-Christian.  Our  revolutionary  fathers  wrote  first  with 
pen  and  then  with  sword,  first  in  black  ink  and  then  in 
red  ink,  that  all  men  are  equal  before  the  law.  Impartiality 
written  on  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  on  the  Consti- 
tution of  the  United  States,  and  over  the  door  of  our  State 
and  National  capitols.  Now,  how  then  dare  you  propose  for 
five  hundred  dollars  or  one  thousand  dollars  to  let  one  man 


94       HIGH  LICENSE,  THE   MONOPOLY  OF  ABOMINATION. 

sell  sweetened  dynamite,  wKile  you  deny  to  his  fellow  the 
right,  because  he  cannot  raise  more  than  one  hundred  dollars 
or  more  than  fifty  dollars,  or  cannot  raise  anything?  Are  the 
small  dealers  in  this  festive  liquid  to  have  no  rights?  I  plead 
for  equal  rights,  the  first  American  doctrine.  I  plead  for  the 
rights  of  those  men  who  are  doing  a  small,  prudent,  eco- 
nomical business  in  selling  extract  of  logwood,  strychnine, 
and  blue  vitriol!  What  right  have  you  to  say  to  these 
wealthy  men  standing  beside  their  great  conflagration  of 
temptation,  "  Go  ahead,"  while  you  deny  the  poor  fellows  in 
the  traffic  the  right  so  much  as  to  strike  a  lucifer  match? 
Now,  this  high-license  movement  is  property  qualification  in 
its  most  offensive  shape.  Why  do  you  not  carry  it  out  in 
other  things?  Why  do  you  not  stop  all  these  bakers  until 
the  bakers  can  pay  a  one  thousand  dollar  license?  Why  do 
you  not  shut  up  all  the  butchers'  shops  until  the  butchers 
can  pay  one  thousand  dollars  or  five  hundred  dollars?  Why 
do  you  not  stop  these  thread-and-needle  stores  and  the 
small  dry-goods  establishments,  except  that  a  man  pay  five 
hundred  dollars  or  one  thousand  dollars?  "  Oh,"  you  say, 
"  that  is  different."  How  is  it  different?  "  Well,"  you  say, 
"  the  sale  of  bread  and  meat  and  clothes  does  no  damage, 
while  the  sale  of  whiskey  does  damage."  Ah,  my  brother, 
you  have  surrendered  the  whole  subject!  If  rum-selling  is 
right,  let  all  have  the  right,  and  if  it  is  wrong,  five  hundred 
dollars  or  one  thousand  dollars  are  only  a  bribe  to  govern- 
ment to  give  a  few  men  a  privilege  which  it  denies  to  the 
great  masses  of  the  people.  Why  do  you  not  carry  out  this 
idea  of  licensing  only  those  who  can  pay  a  large  license? 
Give  them  all  the  privilege. 

So  they  propose  to  compromise  this  matter.  They  say  a 
prohibitory  law  cannot  be  executed,  and,  therefore,  we  had 
better  not  have  any  such  law  on  the  statute  book.  Will  you 
tell  me,  my  friends,  which  one  of  our  laws  is  fully  executed? 
We  have  a  law  against  Sabbath-breaking.  Millions  of  people 


HIGH  LICENSE,  THE  MONOPOLY  OF  ABOMINATION.  95 

break  that  law  every  Sunday.  We  have  laws  against  blas- 
phemy. Sometimes  the  air  is  lurid  with  imprecation.  We 
have  laws  against  theft,  but  you  have  highwaymen  and 
burglars  filling  your  jails  and  penitentiaries,  and  thousands 
of  people  outside  of  jail  who  ought  to  be  inside.  Now,  why 
not  throw  overboard  these  laws,  if  they  are  not  executed 
fully,  and  let  us  give  for  a  high  license  to  a  few  men  all  the 
privilege  of  swearing  and  stealing  and  murder?  And  the  sin 
of  murder.  Why,  your  law  against  it  is  a  failure.  Murder 
on  Long  Island,  murder  in  Illinois,  murder  in  Pennsylvania, 
murder  all  over.  It  is  almost  impossible  to  convict  one  of 
the  desperadoes.  He  proves  an  alibi  right  away,  or  he  did  it 
under  emotional  insanity.  Court-house  full  of  sympathizers, 
and  when  he  is  cleared  the  crowd  follow  him  down  the  street 
thinking  he  ought  to  be  sent  to  Congress!  Your  law  against 
murder  is  a  failure.  Now  we  have  got  to  stop  these  clumsy 
assassins  who  kill  people  with  car-hooks,  and  Paris  green, 
and  dull  knives,  and  having  a  high  license,  say  $10,000  or 
$20,000,  give  to  a  few  men  the  privilege  of  genteelly  and 
skillfully  and  gracefully  putting  their  victims  out  of  their 
worldly  misfortunes.  You  will  never  stop  murder  in  this 
country  until  you  put  a  high  license  upon  it  and  let  a  few 
men  do  all  the  killing.  But,  my  friends,  all  irony  aside,  you 
see  that  if  rum  selling  is  right  we  all  ought  to  have  the  right, 
and  if  it  is  wrong,  five  million  dollars  paid  down  in  hard 
cash  for  one  license  ought  to  purchase  no  immunity.  High 
license  is  anti-common-sense.  You  know  very  well  one 
business  has  no  right  to  despoil  other  businesses.  A  manu- 
facturer went  down  South  and  established  himself  in  Georgia. 
Somebody  asked  him  why  he  built  his  establishment  there. 
He  said,  "  Because  they  voted  to  have  no  license  here. "  That 
honest  manufacturer  knew  what  you  and  I  ought  to  know, 
that  the  liquor  traffic  is  in  antagonism  with  every  other 
business.  If  the  million  of  dollars  which  go  into  that  busi- 
ness went  for  lawful  and  healthful  styles  of  business  there 


96       HIGH  LICENSE,  THE   MONOPOLY  OF  ABOMINATION. 


would  come  to  the  agricultural  and  manufacturing  and  com- 


ONLY  A  DRUNKARD. 

mercial  interests  of  this  country  a  boom  of  prosperity  a 
hundred  and  fifty  per  cent,  greater  than  we  have  had. 

Oh/that  the  working  people  of  America  understood  that  it 


HIGH  LICENSE,  THE  MONOPOLY  OP  ABOMINATION.  97 

is  time  for  them  by  their  votes  to  keep  at  home  the  driveling 
pot-house  politicians  in  Albany  and  Harrisburg,  who  vote 
down  prohibition.  Do  you  not  know  that  if  you  have  $ 2  as 
wages  now  a  day  you  would  have  $4;  if  you  have  $1000 
salary  you  would  have  $2000;  if  you  have  $  10,000  income 
now  you  would  have  $20,000?  The  rum  traffic  puts  its  clutch 
this  moment  upon  the  neck  of  every  merchant,  mechanic, 
artist,  and  farmer  in  America.  You  pay  for  its  destructive 
work  by  your  honest  sweat  and  by  the  deprivation  of  your 
households  of  many  comforts.  Oh,  for  an  hour  of  the  magnifi- 
cent courage  of  Iowa,  whose  Legislature  sometime  ago 
passed  an  out-and-out  prohibition  law,  and  whose  governor 
had  grace  and  greatness  enough  to  sign  it.  Lead  on,  O 
Western  State,  in  this  glorious  reform!  Our  own  beloved 
New  York  State  may  be  the  last  to  fall  into  line,  but  come 
she  will.  After  a  few  more  thousands  of  our  homes  are 
despoiled  by  the  rum  traffic,  after  a  few  more  thousand 
broken  hearts,  after  a  few  more  thousand  of  the  noblest 
intellects  of  this  age  are  sacrificed,  after  a  few  more  years  the 
distilleries  shall  have  insulted  the  heavens  with  their  uprolling 
stench,  the  tide  will  turn,  and  all  good  people  rising  up  will 
lay  hold  of  the  strength  of  Almighty  God  and  hurl  into  the 
perdition  from  which  it  smoked  up  this  sweltering  and  putre- 
fying curse  of  nations.  Yes,  I  have  to  tell  you  that  this  high- 
license  movement  is  antagonized  by  all  the  demonstrated 
facts  in  the  case.  I  am  amazed  to  hear  intelligent  men  of 
our  county  talk  as  though  this  were  a  new  plan  that  we  are 
to  try  just  once.  It  is  an  old  carcass.  It  first  died  in 
Missouri;  then  it  died  in  Kansas,  the  second  death,  and  it 
has  been  tried  over  and  over,  and  over  again,  and  has  always 
been  a  flat  and  disgusting  failure.  Men  of  America,  hear 
that!  It  was  tried  in  Iowa,  a  thousand-dollar  license.  A 
prominent  paper  of  Iowa  says :  "  Experiments  being  made  with 
high  license  in  Iowa  as  a  temperance  method  are  fast  prov- 
ing what  a  cheat  it  is.  Des  Moines  has  tried  a  thousand- 
7 


98       HIGH  LICENSE,  THE  MONOPOLY  OF  ABOMINATION. 

dollar  license  only  to  find  it  has  increased  the  number  of  its 
saloons  and  the  daily  cases  of  drunkenness.  Other  cities  in 
Iowa  have  tried  it  with  similar  result.  High  license  tried 
again  and  again,  and  again,  and  yet  here  we,  in  the  State  of 
New  York,  are  so  stultifying  ourselves  as  to  propose  that  the 
farce  be  re-enacted.  The  hardest  blow  the  temperance  re- 
formation has  had  in  this  century  has  been  in  the  fact  that 
some  reformers  have  halted  under  the  delusion  of  this  high- 
license  movement.  You  know  what  it  is.  It  is  the  white  flag 
of  truce  sent  out  from  Alcoholism  to  Prohibition  to  make  the 
battle  pause  long  enough  to  get  the  army  of  decanters  and 
demijohns  better  organized.  Away  with  that  flag  of  truce, 
or  I  will  fire  on  it.  Between  these  two  armies,  there  can  be 
no  truce.  On  the  one  side  are  God  and  sobriety  and  the  best 
interests  of  the  world,  and  on  the  other  side  is  the  sworn 
enemy  of  all  righteousness,  and  either  rum  must  be  defeated 
or  the  Church  of  God  and  civilization.  What  are  you  trying 
to  compromise  with?  Oh,  this  black  destroying  archangel 
of  all  diabolism,  putting  one  wing  to  the  Pacific,  putting  the 
other  wing  to  the  Atlantic  coast,  its  filthy  claws  clutching 
into  the  torn  and  bleeding  heart-strings  of  the  nation  as  it 
cries  out,  "How  long,  0  Lord,  how  long?"  Compromise 
with  it!  You  had  better  compromise  with  the  panther  in  his 
jungle,  with  the  cyclone  in  its  flight,  with  an  Egyptian  plague 
as  it  blotches  an  empire,  with  Apollon,  for  whom  this  evil  is 
recruiting  officer,  quarter-master,  and  commander-in-chief. 
Oh,  my  friends,  let  us  fight  this  battle  out  on  the  old  line, 
for  victory  is  coming  as  surely  as  right  is  right,  and  wrong 
is  wrong,  and  falsehood  is  false,  and  truth  is  truth,  and 
God  is  God.  Can  it  be  that  you  are  so  deaf  that  you  can- 
not hear  in  the  distance  the  rumbling  of  the  on-coming 
chariots  of  victory?  Three  hundred  and  twenty  thousand 
votes  in  Ohio  for  prohibition.  Kansas  on  the  right  side. 
Iowa  on  the  right  side.  Alabama  and  Georgia  on  the  right 
side. 


HIGH  LICENSE,  THE  MONOPOLY  OF  ABOMINATION.  99 

Fifteen  legislatures  of  the  United  States  lately  discussing 
the  temperance  question.  Two  hundred  and  forty- six  of  the 
townships  of  Massachusetts  out  of  two  hundred  and  fifty-six 
proclaimed  for  no  license.  In  all  the  State  of  Maine  no  one 
signboard  out  announcing  the  sale  of  strong  drink,  so  that  if 
in  any  place  it  is  sold  it  is  a  pronounced  crime.  In  our  own 
monopoly-ridden  New  York  Legislature  a  few  weeks  ago  we 
came  within  three  votes  of  having  the  choice  of  prohibition 
given  to  the  people.  The  liquor  traffic  so  panic-struck  that 
it  is  at  Washington  trying  to  get  the  Constitution  altered,  so 
that  prohibitory  laws,  if  passed,  as  they  will  be  passed  all 
over  the  land,  can  be  pronounced  unconstitutional.  Some 
time  since  the  Congress  of  the  United  States  demolishing  the 
bonded  whiskey  bill  by  one  hundred  and  eighty-six  votes  to 
eighty- three,  although  the  liquor  traffic  had  expended 
$700,000  to  buy  spectacles  through  which  our  rulers  might 
see  things  in  the  right  light.  Oh,  I  tell  the  politicians  of 
America,  I  tell  the  leaders  of  our  beautiful  Eepublican  party 
and  of  our  glorious  Democracy  that  the  temperance  move- 
ment is  going  to  hold  the  balance  of  the  power  in  this 
country,  and  decide  who  shall  be  the  Mayors,  and  the 
Governors,  and  the  Congressmen,  and  the  Presidents.  I 
expect  to  live  to  see  a  President  of  the  United  States  elected 
on  a  prohibition  platform.  Better  get  off  the  track  before  the 
morning  express  train  comes  down  with  the  women's  tempe- 
rance societies,  and  the  Sons  of  Temperance,  and  the  Good 
Samaritans,  and  the  Good  Templars,  and  the  long  train  of 
Christians  and  philanthopists  and  reformers.  Clear  the 
track !  The  cow-catcher  will  be  all  piled  up  with  smashed 
decanters,  and  the  staves  of  beer-barrels,  and  the  splinters  of 
high-license  platforms,  and  the  rails  with  people  who  sat  on 
the  fence,  and  all  the  machinations  and  briberies  and  outrages 
of  all  Christendom.  The  time  will  come  when  there  will  be 
only  ten  decanters  left,  and  they  will  be  set  up  at  the  end  of 
an  alley  like  ten  pins,  and  some  reformer  will  take  the  round 


100     HIGH  LICENSE,  THE  MONOPOLY  OF  ABOMINATION. 

ball  of  prohibition  and  he  will  give  one  roll,  but  it  will  be  a 
ten  strike.  My  friends,  this  subject  looked  at  from  the  side 
of  worldly  reform  is  so  bright;  but  looked  at  from  the  side 
of  Christian  reform  is  absolutely  certain.  God  is  going  to 
destroy  drunkenness.  Is  there  a  man  who  doubts  that  God 
is  stronger  than  the  devil? 


CHAPTER  VI. 


INTEMPERANCE. 

Noah  did  the  best  and  the  worst  thing  for  the  world.  He 
built  an  ark  against  the  deluge  of  water,  but  introduced  a 
deluge  against  which  the  human  race  has  ever  since  been 
trying  to  build  an  ark — the  deluge  of  drunkenness.  In  the 
opening  chapters  of  the  Bible  we  hear  his  staggering  steps. 
Shem  and  Japhet  tried  to  cover  up  the  disgrace,  but  there  he 
is,  drunk  on  wine  at  a  time  in  the  history  of  the  world  when, 
to  say  the  least,  there  was  no  lack  of  water. 

Inebriation  having  entered  the  world,  has  not  retreated. 

•  Abigail,  the  fair  and  heroic  wife  who  saved  the  flocks  of 
Nabal,  her  husband,  from  confiscation  by  invaders,  goes  home 
at  night  and  finds  him  so  intoxicated  she  can  not  tell  him 
the  story  of  his  narrow  escape.  Uriah  came  to  see  David, 
and  David  got  him  drunk,  and  paved  the  way  for  the  despo- 
liation of  a  household.  Even  the  church  bishops  needed  to 
be  charged  to  be  sober  and  not  given  to  too  much  wine;  and 
so  familiar  were  the  people  of  Bible  times  with  the  staggering 
and  falling  motion  of  the  inebriate,  that  Isaiah,  when  he 

•  comes  to  describe  the  final  dislocation  of  worlds  says:  "The 
earth  shall  reel  to  and  fro  like  a  drunkard. 

Ever  since  apples  and  grapes  and  wheat  grew  the  world 
has  been  tempted  to  unhealthful  stimulants.  But  the  intoxi- 
cants of  the  olden  time  were  an  innocent  beverage,  a  harmless 
orangeade,  a  quiet  syrup,  a  peaceful  soda  water,  as  compared 
with  the  liquids  of  modern  inebriation,  into  which  a  mad- 
ness, and  a  fury,  and  a  gloom,  and  a  fire,  and  a  suicide,  and 
a  retribution  have  mixed  and  mingled.    Fermentation  was 

(101) 


102 


INTEMPERANCE. 


always  known,  but  it  was  not  until  a  thousand  years  after 
Christ  that  distillation  was  invented. 

While  we  must  confess  that  some  of  the  ancient  arts 
have  been  lost,  the  Christian  era  is  superior  to  all  others  in 
the  bad  eminence  of  whisky  and  rum  and  gin.  The  modern 
drunk  is  a  hundred -fold  worse  than  the  ancient  drunk. 
Noah  in  his  intoxication  became  imbecile,  but  the  victims  of 
modern  alcoholism  have  to  struggle  wTith  whole  menageries 
of  wild  beasts  and  jungles  of  hissing  serpents  and  perditions 
of  blaspheming  demons.  An  arch-fiend  arrived  in  our  world, 
and  he  built  an  invisible  cauldron  of  temptation.  He  built 
that  cauldron  strong  and  stout  for  all  ages  and  all  nations. 
First  he  squeezed  into  the  cauldron  the  juices  of  the  forbidden 
fruit  of  Paradise.  Then  he  gathered  for  it  a  distillation 
from  the  harvest  fields  and  the  orchards  of  the  hemispheres. 
Then  he  poured  into  this  cauldron  capsicum,  and  copperas, 
and  logwood,  and  deadly  nightshade,  and  assault  and  battery, 
and  vitriol,  and  opium,  and  rum,  and  murder,  and  sulphuric 
acid,  and  theft,  and  potash,  and  cochineal,  and  red  carrots, 
and  poverty,  and  death,  and  hops.  But  it  was  a  dry  com- 
pound, and  it  must  be  moistened,  and  it  must  be  liquefied, 
and  so  the  arch-fiend  poured  into  that  cauldron  the  tears  of 
centuries  of  orphanage  and  widowhood,  and  he  poured  in  the 
blood  of  twenty  thousand  assassinations.  And  then  the  arch- 
fiend took  a  shovel  that  he  had  brought  up  from  the  furnaces 
beneath,  and  he  put  that  shovel  into  this  great  cauldron  and 
began  to  stir,  and  the  cauldron  began  to  heave,  and  rock,  and 
boil,  and  sputter,  and  hiss,  and  smoke,  and  the  nations 
gathered  around  it  with  cups  and  tankards  and  demijohns 
and  kegs,  and  there  was  enough  for  all,  and  the  arch-fiend 
cried:  "Aha!  champion  fiend  am  I.  Who  has  done  more 
than  I  have  for  coffins  and  grave-yards  and  prisons  and  insane 
asylums,  and  the  populating  of  the  lost  world?  And  when 
this  cauldron  is  emptied,  I'll  fill  it  again,  and  111  stir  it 
again,  and  it  will  smoke  again,  and  that  smoke  will  join 


INTEMPERANCE.  103 


another  smoke—the  smoke  of  a  torment  that  ascendeth  for- 
ever and  ever." 


"  I  drove  fifty  ships  on  the  rocks  of  Newfoundland  and 
the  Skerries  and  the  Goodwins.    I  defeated  the  Northern 


104 


INTEMPERANCE. 


army  at  Fredricksburg.  I  have  ruined  more  senators  than 
will  gather  next  winter  in  the  national  councils.  I  have 
ruined  more  lords  than  will  be  gathered  in  the  House  of 
Peers.  The  cup  out  of  which  I  ordinarily  drink  is  a  bleached 
human  skull,  and  the  upholstery  of  my  palace  is  so  rich  a 
crimson  because  it  is  dyed  in  human  gore,  and  the  mosaic  of 
my  floors  is  made  up  of  the  bones  of  children  dashed  to 
death  by  drunken  parents,  and  my  favorite  music — sweeter 
than  Te  Deum  or  triumphal  march — my  favorite  music 
is  the  cry  of  daughters  turned  out  at  midnight  on  the  street 
because  father  has  come  home  from  the  carousal,  and  the 
seven-hundred- voiced  shriek  of  the  sinking  steamer  because 
the  captain  was  not  himself  when  he  put  the  ship  on  the 
wrong  course.  Champion  fiend  am  I!  I  have  kindled  more 
fires,  I  have  wrung  out  more  agonies,  I  have  stretched  out 
more  midnight  shadows,  I  have  opened  more  Golgothas,  I 
have  rolled  more  juggernauts,  I  have  damned  more  souls 
than  any  other  emissary  of  diabolism. " 

Drunkenness  is  the  greatest  evil  of  this  nation,  and  it 
takes  no  logical  process  to  prove  that  a  drunken  nation  can- 
not long  be  a  free  nation.  I  call  your  attention  to  the  fact 
that  drunkenness  is  not  subsiding,  certainly  that  it  is  not  at 
a  standstill,  but  that  it  is  on  an  onward  march,  and  it  is  a 
double  quick.  "Where  there  was  one  drunken  home  there 
are  ten  drunken  homes.  "Where  there  was  one  drunkard's 
grave  there  are  twenty  drunkards'  graves.  According  to  the 
United  States  Government  figures,  in  1840  there  were  23,- 
000,000  gallons  of  beer  sold.  Last  year  there  were  551,- 
000,000  gallons.  According  to  the  governmental  figures,  in 
the  year  1840  there  were  5,000,000  gallons  of  wine  sold. 
Last  year  there  were  25,000,000  gallons  of  wine.  It  is  on 
the  increase.  Talk  about  crooked  whisky — by  which  men 
mean  the  whisky  that  does  not  pay  the  tax  to  government — 
I  tell  you  all  strong  drink  is  crooked.  Crooked  otard,  crook- 
ed cognac,  crooked  schnapps,  crooked  beer,  crooked  wine, 


INTEMPERANCE. 


105 


crooked  whisky,  because  it  makes  a  man's  path  crooked,  and 
his  life  crooked,  and  his  death  crooked,  and  his  eternity 
crooked. 

If  I  could  gather  all  the  armies  of  the  dead  drunkards 
and  have  them  come  to  resurrection,  and  then  add  to  that 
host  all  the  armies  of  living  drunkards,  five  and  ten  abreast, 
and  then  if  I  could  have  you  mount  a  horse  and  ride  along 
that  line  for  review,  you  would  ride  that  horse  until  he 
dropped  from  exhaustion,  and  you  would  mount  another 
horse  and  ride  until  he  fell  from  exhaustion,  and  you  would 
take  another  and  another,  and  you  would  ride  along  hour 
after  hour,  and  day  after  day.  Great  host,  in  regiments,  in 
brigades.  Great  armies  of  them.  And  then  if  you  had 
voice  enough  stentorian  to  make  them  all  hear,  and  you 
could  give  the  command,  "  Forward,  march ! "  their  first 
tramp  would  make  the  earth  tremble.  I  do  not  care  which 
way  you  look  in  the  community  to-day,  the  evil  is  increasing. 

I  call  your  attention  to  the  fact  that  there  are  thousands 
of  people  born  with  a  thirst  for  strong  drink — a  fact  too  of- 
ten ignored.  Along  some  ancestral  lines  there  runs  the  riv- 
er of  temptation.  There  are  children  whose  swaddling 
clothes  are  torn  off  the  shroud  of  death.  Many  a  father  has 
made  a  will  of  this  sort:  "In  the  name  of  God,  amen.  I 
bequeath  to  my  children  my  houses  and  lands  and  estates, 
share  and  share  shall  they  alike.  Hereto  I  affix  my  hand 
and  seal  in  the  presence  of  witnesses.  "  And  yet,  perhaps 
that  very  man  has  made  another  will  that  the  people  have 
never  read,  and  that  has  not  been  proved  in  the  courts. 
That  will,  if  put  in  writing,  would  read  something  like  this : 
"  In  the  name  of  disease  and  appetite  and  death,  amen.  I 
bequeath  to  my  children  my  evil  habits,  my  tankards  shall 
be  theirs,  my  wine-cup  shall  be  theirs,  my  destroyed  reputa- 
tion shall  be  theirs.  Share  and  share  alike  shall  they  in 
the  infamy.  Hereto  I  affix  my  hand  and  seal  in  the  pres* 
ence  of  all  the  applauding  harpies  of  hell,  " 


106 


INTEMPERANCE. 


From  the  multitude  of  those  who  have  the  evil  habit 
born  within  them,  this  army  is  being  augmented.  And  I 
am  sorry  to  say  that  a  great  many  of  the  drug- stores  are 
abetting  this  evil,  and  alcohol  is  sold  under  the  name  of  bit- 
ters. .  It  is  bitters  for  this,  and  bitters  for  that,  and  bitters 
for  some  other  thing;  and  good  men  deceived,  not  knowing 
there  is  any  thraldom  of  alcoholism  coming  from  that  source, 
are  going  down,  and  some  day  a  man  sits  with  the  bottle  of 
black  bitters  on  his  table,  and  the  cork  flies  out,  and  after  it 
flies  a  fiend,  and  clutches  the  man  by  his  throat,  and  says : 
"Aha!.  I  have  been  after  you  for  ten  years.  I  have  got  you 
now.  Down  with  you,  down  with  you!"  Bitters?  Ah! 
yes.  They  make  a  man's  family  bitter,  and  his  home  bit- 
ter, and  his  disposition  bitter,  and  his  death  bitter,  and  his 
hell  bitter.  Bitters :  A  vast  army  all  the  time  increasing. 
And  let  me  also  say  that  it  is  as  thoroughly  organized  as  any 
army,  with  commander-in-chief,  staff- officers,  infantry,  cav- 
alry, batteries,  sutler-ships,  and  flaming  ensigns,  and  that 
every  candidate  for  -office  in  America  will  yet  have  to  pro- 
nounce himself  the  friend  or  foe  of  the  liquor  traffic. 

I  have  in  my  possession  the  circular  of  a  brewers'  associ- 
ation— a  circular  sent  to  all  candidates  for  office — a  form  to 
be  filled  up,  saying  whether  the  candidate  is  a  friend  of 
the  liquor  traffic,  or  its  enemy;  and  if  he  is  an  enemy  of  the 
business  then  the  man  is  doomed;  or  if  he  declines  to  fill  up 
the  circular  and  send  it  back,  his  silence  is  taken  as  a  nega- 
tive answer. 

It  seems  to  me  it  is  about  time  for  the  seventeen  million 
professors  of  religion  in  America  to  take  sides.  It  is  going 
to  be  an  out-and-out  battle  between  drunkenness  and  sobri- 
ety, between  heaven  and  hell,  between  God  and  the  devil. 
Take  sides  before  there  is  any  further  national  decadence; 
take  sides  before  your  sons  are  sacrificed,  and  the  new 
home  of  your  daughter  goes  down  under  the  alcoholism  of 
an  embruted  husband.    Take  sides  while  your  voice,  your 


INTEMPERANCE. 


107 


pen,  your  prayer,  your  vote,  may  have  some  influence  in 
arresting  the  despoliation  of  this  nation.  If  the  seventeen 
million  professors  of  religion  should  take  sides  on  the  sub- 
ject, it  would  not  be  very  long  before  the  destiny  of  this  na- 
tion would  be  decided  in  the  right  direction. 

Is  it  a  State  evil?  or  is  it  a  national  evil?  Does  it  belong 
to  the  North?  or  does  it  belong  to  the  South?  Does  it  belong 
to  the  East?  or  does  it  belong  to  the  West?  Ah!  there  is 
not  an  American  river  into  which  its  tears  have  not  fallen, 
and  into  which  its  suicides  have  not  plunged.  What  ruined 
that  Southern  plantation?  every  field  a  fortune,  the  proprietor 
and  his  family  once  the  most  affluent  supporters  of  summer 
watering-places.  What  threw  that  New  England  farm  into 
decay  and  turned  the  roseate  cheeks  that  bloomed  at  the  foot 
of  the  Green  Mountains  into  the  pallor  of  despair?  What 
has  smitten  every  street  of  every  village,  town,  and  city  of 
this  continent  with  a  moral  pestilence?  Intemperance 

To  prove  that  this  is  a  national  evil,  I  call  up  three  States 
in  opposite  directions — Maine,  Iowa,  and  Georgia.  Let  them 
testify  in  regard  to  this.  State  of  Maine  says:  "It  is  so 
great  an  evil  up  here  we  have  anathematized  it  as  a  State." 
State  of  Iowa  says:  "It  is  so  great  an  evil  out  here  we  have 
prohibited  it  by  constitutional  amendment."  State  of  Georgia 
says:  "It is  so  great  an  evil  down  here  that  ninety  counties 
of  this  State  have  made  the  sale  of  intoxicating  drink  a 
criminality."  So  the  word  comes  up  from  all  sources,  and  it 
is  going  to  be  a  Waterloo,  and  I  want  you  to  know  on  what 
side  I  am  going  to  be  when  that  Waterloo  is  fully  come,  and 
I  want  you  to  be  on  the  right  side.  Either  drunkenness  will 
be  destroyed  in  this  country,  or  the  American  Government 
will  be  destroyed.  Drunkenness  and  free  institutions  are 
coming  into  a  death  grapple. 

Oh,  how  many  are  waiting  to  see  if  something  can  not  be 
done!  Thousands  of  drunkards  waiting  who  cannot  go  ten 
minutes  in  any  direction  without  having  the  temptation 


108 


INTEMPERANCE. 


glaring  before  their  eyes  or  appealing  to  their  nostrils,  they 
fighting  against  it  with  enfeebled  will  and  diseased  appetite, 
conquering,  then  surrendering,  conquering  again  and  sur- 
rendering again,  and  crying:  "How  long,  0  Lord,  how  long 
before  these  infamous  solicitations  shall  be  gone?" 

And  how  many  mothers  there  are  waiting  to  see  if  this 
national  curse  cannot  lift!  Oh,  is  that  the  boy  that  had  the 
honest  breath  who  comes  home  with  breath  vitiated  or  dis- 
guised? What  a  change!  How  quickly  those  habits  of  early 
coming  home  have  been  exchanged  for  the  rattling  of  the 
night-key  in  the  door  long  after  the  last  watchman  has  gone 
by  and  tried  to  see  that  everything  was  closed  up  for  the 
night!  Oh,  what  a  change  for  that  young  man  who  we  had 
hope  would  do  something  in  merchandise,  or  in  artisanship, 
or  in  a  profession,  that  would  do  honor  to  the  family  name 
long  after  mother's  wrinkled  hands  are  folded  from  the  last 
toil!  All  that  exchanged  for  startled  look  when  the  door-bell 
rings,  lest  something  has  happened.  And  the  wish  that  the 
scarlet  fever  twenty  years  ago  had  been  fatal,  for  then  he 
would  have  gone  directly  to  the  bosom  of  his  Saviour.  But 
alas !  poor  old  soul,  she  has  lived  to  experience  what  Solomon 
said:    "A  foolish  son  is  a  heaviness  to  his  mother." 

Oh,  what  a  funeral  it  will  be  when  that  boy  is  brought 
home  dead!  And  how  mother  will  sit  there  and  say:  "Is 
this  my  boy  that  I  used  to  fondle,  and  that  I  walked  the  floor 
with  in  the  night  when  he  was  sick?  Is  this  the  boy  that  I 
held  to  the  baptismal  font  for  baptism?  Is  this  the  boy  for 
whom  I  toiled  until  the  blood  burst  from  the  tips  of  my  fin- 
gers that  he  might  have  a  good  start  and  a  good  home? 
Lord,  why  hast  Thou  let  me  live  to  see  this?  Can  it  be  that 
these  swollen  hands  are  the  ones  that  used  to  wander  over 
my  face  when  rocking  him  to  sleep?  Can  it  be  that  this  is 
the  swollen  brow  that  I  once  so  rapturously  kissed?  Poor 
boy!  how  tired  he  does  look.  I  wonder  who  struck  him  that 
blow  across  the  temples!    I  wonder  if  he  uttered  a  dying 


INTEMPERANCE. 


109 


prayer!  Wake  up,  my  son;  don't  you  hear  me?  wake  up! 
Oh,  he  can't  hear  me!  Dead,  dead,  dead!  'Oh,  Absalom, 
my  son*  my  son,  would  God  that  I  had  died  for  thee,  oh, 
Absalom,  my  son,  my  son! '  " 


I  am  not  much  of  a  mathematician,  and  I  cannot  estimate 
it:  but  is  there  any  one  quick  enough  at  figures  to  estimate 
liow  many  mothers  there  are  waiting  for  something  to  be 


110 


INTEMPERANCE. 


done?  Aye,  there  are  many  wives  waiting  for  domestic 
rescue.  He  promised  something  different  from  that  when, 
after  the  long  acquaintance  and  the  careful  scrutiny  of 
character,  the  hand  and  the  heart  were  offered  and  accepted. 
What  a  hell  on  earth  a  woman  lives  in  who  has  a  drunken 
husband ! 

O  Death,  how  lovely  thou  art  to  her,  and  how  soft  and 
warm  thy  skeleton  hand!  The  sepulcher  at  midnight  in 
winter  is  a  king's  drawing-room  compared  with  that  woman's 
home.  It  is  not  so  much  the  blow  on  the  head  that  hurts,  as 
the  blow  on  the  heart.  The  rum  fiend  came  to  the  door  of 
that  beautiful  home  and  opened  the  door  and  stood  there, 
and  said:  "I  curse  this  dwelling  with  an  unrelenting  curse. 
I  curse  that  father  into  a  maniac,  I  curse  that  mother  into  a 
pauper.  I  curse  those  sons  into  vagabonds.  I  curse  those 
daughters  into  profligacy.  Cursed  be  bread-tray  and  cradle. 
Cursed  be  couch  and  chair  and  family  Bible  with  record  of 
marriages  and  births  and  deaths.  Curse  upon  curse."  Oh, 
how  many  wives  are  there  waiting  to  see  if  something  cannot 
be  done  to  shake  these  frosts  of  the  second  death  off  the 
orange  blossoms !  Yea,  God  is  waiting,  the  God  who  works 
through  human  instrumentalities,  waiting  to  see  whether  this 
nation  is  going  to  overthrow  this  evil;  and  if  it  refuse  to  do 
so  God  will  wipe  out  the  nation  as  He  did  Phoenicia,  as  He 
did  Rome,  as  He  did  Thebes,  as  He  did  Babylon.  Aye,  He 
is  waiting  to  see  what  the  church  of  God  will  do.  If  the 
church  does  not  do  its  work,  then  He  will  wipe  it  out  as  He 
did  the  church  of  Ephesus,  church  of  Thyatira,  church  of 
Sardis.  The  Protestant  and  Roman  Catholic  churches  to-day 
stand  side  by  side  with  an  impotent  look,  gazing  on  this 
evil,  which  costs  this  country  more  than  a  billion  dollars  a 
year  to  take  care  of  the  800,000  paupers,  and  the  315,000 
criminals,  and  the  30,000  idiots,  and  to  bury  the  75,000 
drunkards. 

Protagoras  boasted  that  out  of  the  sixty  years  of  his  life 


INTEMPERANCE. 


Ill 


forty  years  he  had  spent  in  ruining  youth ;  but  intemperance 
may  make  the  more  infamous  boast  that  all  its  life  it  has 
been  ruining  the  bodies,  minds,  and  souls  of  the  human  race. 

Put  on  your  spectacles  and  take  a  candle  and  examine  the 
platforms  of  the  two  leading  political  parties  of  this  country, 
and  see  what  they  are  doing  for  the  arrest  of  this  evil,  and 
for  the  overthrow  of  this  abomination.  Resolutions — oh  yes, 
resolutions  about  Mormonism!  It  is  safe  to  attack  that 
organized  nastiness  2,000  miles  away.  But  not  one  resolu- 
tion against  drunkenness,  which  would  turn  this  entire  nation 
into  one  bestial  Salt  Lake  City.  Eesolutions  against  political 
corruption,  but  not  one  word  about  drunkenness,  which 
would  rot  this  nation  from  scalp  to  heel.  Resolutions  about 
protection,  against  competition  with  foreign  industries,  but 
not  one  word  about  protection  of  family  and  church  and 
nation  against  the  scalding,  blasting,  all-consuming,  damning 
tariff  of  strong  drink  put  upon  every  financial,  individual, 
spiritual,  moral,  national  interest.  The  Democratic  party — 
in  power  for  the  most  of  the  time  for  forty  years — what  did 
that  national  party  do  for  the  extirpation  of  this  evil? 
Nothing,  absolutely  nothing,  appallingly  nothing.  The  Re- 
publican party — in  power  for  about  a  quarter  of  a  century — 
what  has  it  done  as  a  national  party  to  extirpate  this  evil? 
Nothing,  absolutely  nothing,  appallingly  nothing.  I  look  in 
another  direction. 

The  Church  of  God  is  the  grandest  and  most  glorious 
institution  on  earth.  What  has  it  in  solid  phalanx  accom- 
plished for  the  overthrow  of  drunkenness  ?  Have  its  forces 
ever  been  marshaled?  No,  not  in  this  direction.  The  church 
holds  the  balance  of  power  in  America;  and  if  Christian 
people — the  men  and  the  women  who  profess  to  love  the 
Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and  to  love  purity,  and  to  be  the  sworn 
enemies  of  all  uncleanness  and  debauchery  and  sin — if  all 
such  would  march  side  by  side  and  shoulder  to  shoulder,  this 
evil  would  soon  be  overthrown.    Think  of  300,000  churches 


112 


INTEMPERANCE. 


and  Sunday-shools  in  Christendom,  marching  shoulder  to 
shoulder !  How  very  short  a  time  it  would  take  them  to  put 
down  this  evil,  if  all  the  churches  of  God — trans -Atlantic  and 
cis-Atlantic — were  armed  on  this  subject! 

Young  men  of  America,  pass  over  into  the  army  of 
teetotalism.  Whisky,  good  to  preserve  corpses,  ought  never 
to  turn  you  into  a  corpse.  Tens  of  thousands  of  young  men 
have  been  dragged  out  of  respectability,  and  out  of  purity, 
and  out  of  good  character,  and  into  darkness,  by  this  infernal 
stuff  called  strong  drink.   Do  not  touch  it !  Do  not  touch  it ! 


CHAPTER  VII. 


MORMONISM. 

There  have  been  in  the  world  hundreds  of  political  parties. 
They  did  their  work.  They  lost  their  prestige.  They  expired. 
Their  names  are  forgotten.  Enough  for  me  to  declare  what 
I  believe  God  and  civilization  demand  of  the  two  political 
parties  of  this  day,  or  their  extermination.  God  and  civiliza- 
tion demand  of  the  political  parties  of  this  day  a  plank  anti- 
Mormonistic.  It  is  high  time  that  the  nation  stopped  playing 
with  this  cancer.  All  the  plasters  of  political  quacks  only 
aggravate  it,  and  nothing  but  the  surgery  of  the  sword  will 
cure  it.  All  the  congressional  laws  on  this  subject  have  been 
notorious  failures.  Meanwhile  the  great  monster  sits  be- 
tween the  two  mountains — the  Eocky  Mountains  and  the 
Sierra  Nevadas — sits  in  defiance  and  mockery,  sometimes 
holding  its  sides  with  uncontrollable  mirth  at  our  national 
impotency.  Shipload  after  shipload  of  Mormons  are  re- 
gurgitated at  your  Castle  Garden,  and  hundreds  and  thou- 
sands of  them  are  being  sent  on  to  the  great  moral  lazaretto 
of  the  West.  Others  are  on  the  way,  and  the  Atlantic  is 
heaving  toward  us  the  great  surges  of  foreign  libertinism.  This 
moment  the  emissaries  of  that  organized  lust  are  busy  in 
Norway  and  Sweden  and  England  and  Ireland  and  Scotland 
and  Germany,  breaking  up  homes,  and  with  infernal  cords 
drawing  the  population  this  way,  a  population  which  will  be 
dumped  as  carrion  on  the  American  territories.  American 
crime,  with  its  long  rake  stretched  across  other  continents, 
is  heaping  up  on  this  land  great  winnows  of  abomination. 
Worse  and  worse.    Four  hundred  Mormons  coming  into  our 

8  (113) 


114 


MORMONISM. 


port  in  one  day,  six  hundred  in  another  day,  eight  hundred 
in  another  day. 

Are  we  so  cowardly  and  selfish  in  this  generation  that  we 
are  going  to  bequeath  to  the  following  generations  this  great 
evil?  Letting  it  go  on  until  our  children  come  to  the  front 
and  we  are  safely  entrenched  under  the  mound  of  our  own 
sepulchers,  leaving  our  children  through  all  their  active  life 
to  wonder  why  we  postponed  this  evil  for  their  extirpation 
when  we  might  have  destroyed  it  with  a  hundred-fold  less 
exposure.  What  a  legacy  for  this  generation  to  leave  the 
following  generation!  A  vast  acreage  of  sweltering  putre- 
faction, of  lowest  beastliness,  of  suffocating  stench,  all  the 
time  becoming  more  and  more  mal- odorous  and  rotten  and 
damnable.  We  want  some  great  political  party  in  some 
strong  and  unmistakable  plank  to  declare  that  it  will  extirpate 
heroically  and  immediately  this  great  harem  of  the  American 
continent.  We  want  some  President  of  the  United  States  to 
come  in  on  such  an  anti-Mormornistic  platform,  and  in  his 
opening  message  to  Congress  ask  for  an  appropriation  for 
military  expedition,  and  then  put  Phil  Sheridan  in  his  light- 
ning stirrups,  heading  his  horse  westward,  and  in  one  year 
Mormonism  will  be  extirpated  and  national  decency  vin- 
dicated. Compelling  Mormonistic  chiefs  to  take  oath  of 
allegiance  will  not  do  it,  for  they  have  declared  in  open 
assembly  that  perjury  in  their  cause  is  commendable.  Eeli- 
gious  tracts  on  purity  amount  to  nothing.  They  will  not  read 
them.  Anything  shorter  than  bayonets  and  anything  softer 
than  bullets  will  never  do  that  work. 

Every  day  you  open  a  paper  and  you  see  in  the  State  of 
New  York  some  bigamist  arrested  and  punished.  What  you 
prohibit  on  a  small  scale  for  a  State  you  allow  on  a  large 
scale  for  a  nation.  Bigamy  must  be  put  down.  Polygamy 
must  go  free.  What  has  been  the  effect,  my  friends?  It  has 
demoralized  this  whole  nation.  That  carbuncle  on  the  back 
of  the  nation  has  sickened  all  the  nerves,  and  muscles,  and 


MORMONISM.  115 

arteries  and  veins,  and  limbs  of  the  body  politic.  I  account  in 
that  way  for  many  of  the  loose  ideas  abroad  on  all  sides  on  the 
subject  of  the  marriage  relation.  Divorce  by  the  wholesale. 
Concubinage  in 
high  circles.  Lib- 
ertinism, if  gloved 
and  patent  leath- 
ered, admitted  in- 
to high  circles. 
The  malaria  of 
Salt  Lake  City 
has  smitten  the 
nation  with  moral 
typhoid.  The  bad 
influence  has  well- 
nigh  spiked  that 
gun  of  Sinai  which 
needs  to  thunder 
over  the  New  En- 
gland hills,  over 
the  savannas  of 
the  South  and  over  the  Eocky  Mountains  and  the  Sierra 
Nevadas  clear  to  the  Pacific  coast,  "  Thou  shalt  not  com- 
mit adultery  !"  Advertisements  in  newspapers  saying, 
"  Divorce  legally  and  quietly  effected.  Can  pay  in  install- 
ments! "  Some  of  the  New  York  lawyers  giving  their  entire 
time  to  domestic  separations — suborning  witnesses,  giving 
advice  as  to  how  many  months  it  is  necessary  to  be  out  of 
the  city,  inducing  suspicious  complications,  sending  detective 
sleuth  hounds  on  the  track  of  good  citizens,  until  the  honest 
lawyers  of  these  cities  were  compelled  a  little  while  ago  to 
make  outcry  against  the  bemeaning  of  their  honorable  pro- 
fession. Looser  and  looser  ideas  on  the  subject  of  marriage, 
until  sometimes  the  question  of  divorce  is  taken  into  con- 
sideration in  the  wedding  solemnities,  and  people  promise 


THE  MORMON  TEMPLE. 


116 


MORMONISM. 


fidelity  till  death  do  them  part,  and  say  afterward  softly, 
"perhaps,"  or  "may  be,"  " I  rather  think  so."  All  over 
this  land  more  and  more  marriage  in  fun. 

We  do  not  want  divorce  made  more  easy  in  this  country; 
we  want  it  made  more  hard,  so  that  people  will  be  more 
cautious  in  their  affiancing,  and  you  will  understand  that  if 
you  marry  a  brute  of  a  husband  or  a  fool  of  a  wife,  you  will 
have  to  stand  it.  Ah!  my  friends,  there  will  be  no  toning 
up  on  this  subject,  there  will  be  no  moral  health  in  the 
United  States  on  the  subject  of  the  marriage  relation  until 
this  nation  shall  slough  off  this  Mormornistic  ulcer,  and  burn 
out  with  caustic  of  gunpowder  this  wound  which  has  been  so 
long  feculent  and  ichorous  and  dreathful.  If  you  are  under 
the  delusion  that  by  mild  laws  passed  against  Mormonism 
the  evil  will  be  extirpated,  you  are  making  an  awful  mistake. 
The  sooner  you  get  over  it  the  better.  God  and  civiliza- 
tion demand  of  both  political  parties  now  a  plank  anti- 
Mormonistic. 

Again,  there  is  demanded  of  the  political  parties  in  this 
day,  a  plank  of  intelligent  helpfullness  for  the  great  foreign 
population  which  have  come  among  us.  It  is  too  late  now 
to  discuss  whether  we  had  better  let  them  come.  They  are 
here.  They  are  coming  this  moment  through  Narrows,  they 
are  coming  this  moment  through  the  gates  of  Castle  Garden, 
they  are  this  moment  taking  the  first  full  inhalation  of  the 
free  air  of  America,  and  they  will  continue  to  come  as  long 
as  this  country  is  the  best  place  to  live  in.  You  might  as  well 
pass  a  law  prohibiting  summer  bees  from  alighting  on  a  field 
of  blossoming  buckwheat,  you  might  as  well  prohibit  the 
stags  of  the  mountains  from  coming  down  to  the  deer  lick, 
as  to  prohibit  the  hunger-bitten  nations  of  Europe  from 
coming  to  this  land  of  bread,  as  to  prohibit  the  people  of 
England,  Ireland,  Scotland,  Norway,  Sweden,  and  Germany, 
working  themselves  to  death  on  small  wages  on  the  other 
side  the  sea,  from  coming  to  this  land,  where  there  are  the 


MORMONISM. 


117 


largest  compensations  under  the  sun.  Why  did  God  spread 
out  the  prairies  of  Dakota,  and  roll  the  precious  ore  into 
Colorado?  It  was  that  all  the  earth  might  come  and  plow, 
and  come  and  dig.  Just  as  long  as  the  centrifugal  force  of 
foreign  despotisms  throw  them  off,  just  so  long  will  the 
centripetal  force  of  American  institutions  draw  them  here. 

And  that  is  what  is  going  to  make  this  the  mightiest 
nation  of  the  earth.  Intermarriage  of  nationalities.  Not 
circle  intermarrying  circle,  and  nation  intermarrying  nation, 
but  is  going  to  be  Italian   and  Norwegian,  Eussian  and 


TOO  NUMEROUS  TO  MENTION. 

Celt,  Scotch  and  French,  English  and  American.  The 
American  of  a  hundred  years  from  now  is  to  be  different 
from  the  American  of  to-day.  German  brain,  Irish  wit, 
French  civility,  Scotch  firmness,  English  loyalty,  Italian 
a3sthetics  packed  into  one  man,  and  he  an  American.  It  is 
this  intermarriage  of  nationalities  that  is  going  to  make  the 
American  race  the  mightiest  race  of  the  ages.  Now,  I  say, 
in  God's  name  let  them  come. 

But  what  are  we  doing  for  the  moral  and  intellectual 
culture  of  the  half  million  of  foreigners  who  came  in  one 


118 


MORMONISM. 


year,  and  the  six  hundred  thousand  who  came  in  another 
year,  and  the  eight  hundred  thousand  who  came  in  another 
year,  and  the  million  who  came  into  our  various  American 
ports.  What  are  we  doing  for  them?  "Well,  we  are  doing 
a  great  deal  for  them.  We  steal  their  baggage  as  soon  as 
they  get  ashore!  We  send  them  up  to  a  boarding-house 
where  the  least  they  lose  is  their  money.  We  swindle  them 
within  ten  minutes  after  they  get  ashore.  We  are  doing  a 
great  deal  for  them !  But  what  are  we  doing  to  introduce  them 
into  the  duties  of  good  citizenship?  Many  of  them  never 
saw  a  ballot-box,  many  of  them  never  heard  of  the  Con° 
stitution  of  the  United  States,  many  of  them  have  no 
acquaintance  with  our  laws.  Now,  I  say,  let  the  Govern- 
ment of  the  United  States,  so  commanded  by  some  political 
party,  give  to  every  immigrant  who  lands  here  a  volume  in 
good  type  and  well  bound  for  long  usage — a  volume  contain- 
ing the  Declaration  of  Independence,  the  Constitution  of  the 
United  States,  and  a  chapter  on  the  spirit  of  our  Govern- 
ment. Let  there  be  such  a  book  on  every  shelf  of  every  free 
library  in  America.  While  the  American  Bible  Society  pats 
into  the  right  hand  of  every  immigrant  a  copy  of  the  Holy 
Scriptures,  let  the  Government  of  the  United  States,  so  com- 
manded by  some  political  party,  put  into  the  left  hand  of 
every  immigrant  a  volume  instructing  him  in  the  duties  of 
good  citizenship.  There  are  thousands  of  foreigners  in  this 
land  who  need  to  learn  that  the  ballot-box  is  not  a  footstool 
but  a  throne;  not  something  to  put  your  foot  on,  but  some- 
thing to  bow  before. 

Again,  it  is  demanded  of  the  political  parties  of  this  day 
that  they  have  a  plank  that  shall  acknowledge  God.  Let 
there  be  no  favoring  of  sects.  Let  Trinitarian  and  Unitarian, 
Jew  and  Gentile,  Protestant  and  Eoman  Catholic,  be  alike 
in  the  sight  of  the  law— every  man  free  to  worship  in  his 
own  way — but  let  no  political  party  think  it  can  do  its  duty, 
unless  it  acknowledges  that  God,  who  built  this  continent,  and 


MORMONISM. 


119 


revealed  it  at  the  right  time  to  the  discoverer,  and  who  has 
reared  a  prosperity  which  has  been  given  to  no  other  people. 
"  Oh,"  says  some  one,  "  there  are  people  in  this  country  who 
do  not  believe  in  a  God,  and  it  would  be  an  insult  to  them." 
Well,  there  are  people  in  this  country  who  do  not  believe  in 
common  decency,  or  common  honesty,  or  any  kind  of  govern- 
ment, preferring  anarchy.  Your  every  platform  is  an  insult 
to  them.    You  ought  not  to  regard  a  man  who  does  not  be- 


SALT  LAKE  CITY. 


lieve  in  God  any  more  than  you  should  regard  a  man  who 
refuses  to  believe  in  common  decency.  Your  pocketbook  is 
not  safe  a  moment  in  the  presence  of  an  atheist !  God  is  the 
only  source  of  good  government.  Why  not,  then,  say  so, 
and  let  the  chairman  of  the  committee  on  resolutions  in  your 
national  convention  take  a  pen  full  of  ink,  and  with  bold 
hand  head  the  document  with  one  significant,  "  Whereas," 
acknowledging  the  goodness  of  God  in  the  past,  and  begging 
His  kindness  and  protection  for  the  future* 


120 


MORMONISM. 


For  the  lack  of  recognition  of  God  in  your  political  plat- 
forms they  amount  to  nothing.  They  both  make  loud 
declaration  about  civil  service  reform,  and  it  has  been  a 
failure.  If  you  can  take  now  in  your  cool  moments  the 
declaration  made  by  the  Democratic  party  in  Cincinnati  in 
1880,  and  the  declaration  made  by  the  Eepublican  party  in 
Chicago  in  1880,  and  read  those  two  declarations  on  the  sub- 
ject of  civil  service  reform,  and  then  think  of  what  has 
transpired,  and  control  your  mirth,  you  have  more  self-con- 
trol than  I  have.  My  child  asks  me  what  is  civil  service 
reform,  and  I  tell  him,  as  near  as  I  can  understand,  it  is  that 
when  the  Eepublican  party  get  the  government  of  a  State 
they  are  to  turn  out  the  Democrats,  and  when  the  Democrats 
get  the  supremacy  in  the  State  they  are  to  turn  out  the 
Eepublicans. 

Your  platforms  cry  out  for  reform,  and  promise  reform, 
if  they  are  only  kept  in  power,  or  may  obtain  power.  How 
much  do  they  mean  by  reform?  See  what  the  Eepublican 
party  did  in  1876  in  Louisiana  and  what  the  Democratic 
party  did  three  or  four  years  after  in  the  gubernatorial  election 
in  Maine!  Credit  Mobilier  of  eleven  years  ago,  Eiver  and 
Harbor  Bill,  by  which  the  tax-payers  of  the  United  States 
were  swindled  out  of  fifty  millions  of  dollars— in  both 
infamies  the  two  parties  shoulder  to  shoulder,  and  side  to 
side.  What  you  want  is  more  of  God  in  your  pronuncia- 
mentoes.  Without  Him  reform  is  retrogression,  and  gain  is 
loss,  and  victory  is  defeat. 

This  country  belongs  to  God,  and  we  ought  in  every  possi- 
ble way  to  acknowledge  it.  From  the  moment  that,  on  an 
October  morning,  in  1492,  Columbus  looked  over  the  side  of 
the  ship,  and  saw  the  carved  staff  which  made  him  think  he 
was  near  an  inhabited  country,  and  saw  also  a  thorn  and  a 
cluster  of  berries — type  of  our  history  ever  since,  the  piercing 
sorrows  and  the  cluster  of  national  joys — until  this  hour,  our 
country  has  been  bounded  on  the  north  and  south  and  east 


MORMONISM. 


121 


and  west  by  the  goodness  of  God.  The  Huguenots  took 
possession  of  the  Carolinas  in  the  name  of  God;  William 
Penn  settled  Philadelphia  in  the  name  of  God ;  the  Holland- 
ers took  possession  of  New  York  in  the  name  of  God;  the 
Pilgrim  Fathers  settled  New  England  in  the  name  of  God. 
Preceding  the  first  gun  of  Bunker  Hill,  at  the  voice  of  prayer 
all  heads  uncovered.  In  the  war  of  1812  an  officer  came  to 
General  Andrew  Jackson  and  said:  "There  is  an  unusual 
noise  in  the  camp ;  it  ought  to  be  stopped."  General  Jackson 
said:  "What  is  the  noise?"  The  officer  said:  "It  is  the 
voices  of  prayer  and  praise."  And  the  General  said:  "God 
forbid  that  prayer  and  praise  should  be  an  unusual  noise  in 
the  encampment;  you  had  better  go  and  join  them."  Prayer 
at  Valley  Forge,  prayer  at  Monmouth,  prayer  at  Atlanta, 
prayer  at  South  Mountain,  prayer  at  Gettysburg. 

"Oh,"  says  some  infidel,  "the  Northern  people  prayed  on 
one  side,  and  the  Southern  people  prayed  on  the  other  side, 
and  so  it  didn't  amount  to  anything. "  And  I  have  heard 
good  Christian  people  confounded  with  the  infidel  statement, 
when  it  is  as  plain  to  me  as  my  right  hand.  Yes,  the  North- 
ern people  prayed  in  one  way,  and  the  Southern  people 
prayed  in  another  way,  and  God  answered  in  His  own  way, 
giving  to  the  North  the  re-establishment  of  the  Government, 
and  giving  to  the  South  larger  opportunities,  larger  than  she 
had  ever  anticipated,  the  harnessing  of  her  rivers  in  great 
manufacturing  interests,  until  the  Mobile,  and  the  Talla- 
poosa, and  the  Chattahoochee,  are  Southern  Merrimacs,  and 
the  unrolling  of  great  mines  of  coal  and  iron,  of  which  the 
world  knew  nothing,  and  opening  before  her  opportunities  of 
wealth  which  will  give  ninety- nine  per  cent,  more  of  affluence 
than  she  ever  possessed.  And,  instead  of  the  black  hands  of 
American  slaves  emancipated,  there  are  the  more  industrious 
and  black  hands  of  the  coal  and  iron  industries  of  the  South 
which  will  achieve  for  her  fabulous  and  unimagined  wealth. 

And  there  are  domes  of  white  blossoms  where  spread  the  white 
tent, 


MORMONISM. 


And  there  are  ploughs  in  the  track  where  the  war  wagons  went? 
And  there  are  song  swhere  they  lifted  up  Rachel's  lament." 

Oh,  you  are  a  stupid  man  if  you  do  not  understand  how 
God  answered  Abraham  Lincoln's  prayer  in  the  White  House, 
and  Stonewall  Jackson's  prayer  in  the  saddle,  and  answered 
all  the  prayers  of  all  the  cathedrals  on  both  sides  of  Mason 
and  Dixon's  Line.  God's  country  all  the  way  past.  God's 
country  now. 

Put  His  name  in  your  pronunciamentoes,  put  His  name 
on  your  ensigns,  put  His  name  on  your  city  and  State  and 
national  enterprises,  put  His  name  in  your  hearts.  To  most 
of  us  this  country  was  the  cradle,  and  to  most  of  us  it  will 
be  the  grave.  We  want  the  same  glorious  privileges  which 
we  enjoy  to  go  down  to  our  children.  We  can  not  sleep  well 
the  last  sleep,  nor  will  the  pillow  of  dust  be  easy  to  our  heads 
until  we  are  assured  that  the  God  of  our  American  institu- 
tions in  the  past,  will  be  the  God  of  our  American  institutions 
in  the  days  that  are  to  come.  Oh,  when  all  the  rivers  which 
empty  into  the  Atlantic  and  Pacific  seas  shall  pull  on  factory 
bands,  when  all  the  great  mines  of  gold,  and  silver,  and  iron? 
and  coal  shall  be  laid  bare  for  the  nation,  when  the  last 
swamp  shall  be  reclaimed,  and  the  last  jungle  cleared,  and 
the  last  American  desert  Edenized,  and  from  sea  to  sea  the 
continent  shall  be  occupied  by  more  than  twelve  hundred  mill- 
ion souls,  may  it  be  found  that  moral  and  religious  influences 
were  multiplied  in  more  rapid  ratio  than  the  population. 
And  then  there  shall  be  four  doxologies  coming  from  north, 
and  south,  and  east,  and  west — four  doxologies  rolling  toward 
each  other  and  meeting  mid-continent  with  such  dash  of  holy 
joy  that  they  shall  mount  to  the  throne. 

"  And  Heaven's  high  arch  resound  again 
With  6  peace  on  earth,  good  will  to  men.' " 


CHAPTER  Till. 


DIVORCE. 

That  there  are  hundreds  and  thousands  of  infelicitous 
homes  in  America,  no  one  will  doubt.  If  there  were  only 
one  skeleton  in  the  closet,  that  might  be  locked  up  and  aban- 
doned ;  but  in  many  a  home  there  is  a  skeleton  in  the  hall- 
way and  a  skeleton  in  all  the  apartments.  "  Unhappily 
married  "  are  two  words  descriptive  of  many  a  homestead. 
It  needs  no  orthodox  minister  to  prove  to  a  badly  mated 
pair  that  there  is  a  hell;  they  are  there  now. 

Some  say  that  for  the  alleviation  of  all  these  domestic 
disorders  of  which  we  hear,  easy  divorce  is  a  good  prescrip- 
tion. God  sometimes  authorizes  divorce  as  certainly  as  He 
authorizes  marriage.  I  have  just  as  much  regard  for  one 
lawfully  divorced  as  I  have  for  one  lawfully  married.  But 
you  know,  and  I  know,  that  wholesale  divorce  is  one  of  our 
national  scourges.  I  am  not  surprised  at  this  when  I  think 
of  the  influences  which  have  been  abroad  militating  against 
the  marriage  relation:  For  many  years  the  platforms  of  the 
country  rang  with  talk  about  a  free  love  millennium.  There 
were  meetings  of  this  kind  held  in  the  Academy  of  Music, 
Brooklyn;  Cooper  Institute,  New  York;  Tremont  Temple, 
Boston,  and  all  over  the  land.  Some  of  the  women  who 
were  most  prominent  in  that  movement  have  since  been  dis- 
tinguished for  great  promiscuosity  of  affection.  Popular 
themes  for  such  occasions  were  the  tyranny  of  man,  the  op- 
pression of  the  marriage  relation,  women's  rights,  and  the 
affinities.  Prominent  speakers  were  women  with  short  curls, 
short  dress,  and  very  long  tongues,  everlastingly  at  war 

(123) 


124 


DIVORCE. 


with  God  because  they  were  created  women ;  while  on  the 
platform  sat  meek  men  with  soft  accent,  and  cowed  demean- 
or, apologetic  for  masculinity,  and  holding  the  parasols 
while  the  termagant  orators  went  on  preaching  the  gospel  of 
free  love. 

That  campaign  of  about  twenty  years  set  more  devils  in- 
to the  marriage  relation  than  will  be  exorcised  in  the  next 
fifty.  Men  and  women  went  home  from  such  meetings  so 
permanently  confused  as  to  who  were  their  wives  and  hus- 
bands, that  they  never  got  out  of  their  perplexity,  and  the 
criminal  and  the  civil  courts  tried  to  disentangle  the  Iliad  of 
woes,  and  this  one  got  alimony,  and  that  one  got  a  limited 
divorce,  and  this  mother  kept  the  children  on  condition  that 
the  father  could  sometimes  come  and  look  at  them,  and  these 
went  into  the  poor-houses,  and  those  went  into  an  insane  asy- 
lum, and  those  went  into  dissolute  public  life,  and  all  went 
to  destruction.  The  mightiest  war  ever  made  against  the 
marriage  institution  was  that  free  love  campaign,  sometimes 
under  one  name,  and  sometimes  under  another. 

Another  influence  that  has  warred  upon  the  marriage  re- 
lation has  been  polygamy  in  Utah.  That  is  a  stereotyped 
caricature  of  the  marriage  relation,  and  has  poisoned  the 
whole  land.  You  might  as  well  think  that  you  can  have  an 
arm  in  a  state  of  mortification  and  yet  the  whole  body  not  be 
sickened,  as  to  have  those  Territories  polygamized  and  yet 
the  body  of  the  nation  not  feel  the  putrefaction.  Hear  it, 
good  men  and  women  of  America,  that  so  long  ago  as  1862, 
a  law  was  passed  by  Congress  forbidding  polyamy  in  the 
Territories  and  in  ail  the  places  where  they  had  jurisdiction. 
Armed  with  all  the  power  of  government,  and  having  an 
army  at  their  disposal,  and  yet  the  first  brick  has  not  been 
knocked  from  that  fortress  of  libertinism. 

Every  new  President  in  his  inaugural  has  tickled  that 
monster  with  the  straw  of  condemnation,  and  every  Congress 
has  stultified  itself  in  proposing  some  plan  that  would  not 


DIVORCE. 


125 


work.  Polygamy  stands  in  Utah  and  in  other  of  the  Terri- 
tories to-day  more  entrenched,  and  more  brazen,  and  more 
puissant,  and  more  braggart,  and  more  infernal,  than  at  any 
time  in  its  history.  James  Buchanan,  a  much-abused  man 
of  his  day,  did  more  for  the  extirpation  of  this  villainy  than 
all  the  subsequent  administrations  have  dared  to  do.  Mr 
Buchanan  sent  out  an  army,  and  although  it  was  halted  in 
ts  work,  still  he  accomplished  more  than  the  subsequent,  ad- 
ministrations, which  have  done  nothing  but  talk,  talk,  talk. 


ASSEMBLY  HALL  AND  TAB ARNACLE,  SALT  LAKE. 


Polygamy  in  Utah  has  warred  against  the  marriage  relation 
throughout  the  land.  It  is  impossible  to  have  such  an  awful 
sewer  of  iniquity  sending  up  its  miasma,  which  is  wafted  by 
the  winds  north,  south,  east  and  west,  without  the  whole 
land  being  affected  by  it. 

Another  influence  that  has  warred  against  the  marriage 
relation  in  this  country  has  been  a  pustulous  literature,  with 
its  millions  of  sheets  every  week   choked  with  stories  of 


126 


DIVORCE. 


domestic  wrongs,  and  infidelities,  and  massacres  and  outrages, 
until  it  is  a  wonder  to  me  that  there  are  any  decencies  or  any 
common  sense  left  on  the  subject  of  marriage.  One-half  of 
the  news-stands  of  all  our  cities  reeking  with  the  filth. 
"Now,"  say  some,  "  we  admit  all  these  evils,  and  the  only 
way  to  clear  them  out  or  correct  them  is  by  easy  divorce.' ' 
Well,  before  we  yield  to  that  cry,  let  us  find  out  how  easy  it 
is  now. 

I  have  looked  over  the  laws  of  all  the  States,  and  I  find 
that  while  in  some  States  it  is  easier  than  in  others,  in  every 
State  it  is  easy.  The  State  of  Illinois  through  its  Legisla- 
ture recites  a  long  list  of  proper  causes  for  divorce,  and  then 
closes  up  by  giving  to  the  courts  the  right  to  make  a  decree 
of  divorce  in  any  case  where  they  deem  it  expedient.  After 
that  you  are  not  surprised  at  the  announcement  that  in  one 
county  in  the  State  of  Illinois,  in  one  year,  there  were  eight 
hundred  and  thirty-three  divorces.  If  you  want  to  know 
how  easy  it  is  you  have  only  to  look  over  the  records  of  the 
States.  In  Massachusetts  six  hundred  divorces  in  one  year; 
in  Maine  four  hundred  and  seventy-eight  in  one  year;  in 
Connecticut  four  hundred  and  one  divorces  in  one  year;  in 
the  city  of  San  Francisco  three  hundred  and  thirty-three 
divorces  in  1880;  in  New  England  in  one  year  two  thousand 
one  hundred  and  thirteen  divorces,  and  in  twenty  years  in 
New  England  thirty  thousand.    Is  that  not  easy  enough? 

I  want  you  to  notice  that  frequency  of  divorce  always  goes 
along  with  the  dissoluteness  of  society.  Eome  for  five  hun- 
dred years  had  not  one  case  of  divorce.  Those  were  her  days 
of  glory  and  virtue.  Then  the  reign  of  vice  began,  and 
divorce  became  epidemic.  If  you  want  to  know  how  rapidly 
the  Empire  went  down,  ask  Gibbon.  Do  you  know  how  the 
Eeign  of  Terror  was  introduced  in  France?  By  twenty  thou- 
sand cases  of  divorce  in  one  year  in  Paris.  What  we  want  in 
this  country,  and  in  all  lands,  is  that  divorce  be  made  more, 
and  more,  and  more  difficult.    Then  people  before  they  enter 


DIVORCE. 


127 


that  relation  will  be  persuaded  that  there  will  probably  be 
no  escape  from  it,  except  through  the  door  of  the  sepulcher. 
Then  they  will  pause  on  the  verge  of  that  relation,  until  they 
are  fully  satisfied  that  it  rs  best,  and  that  it  is  right,  and  that 
it  is  happiest.  Then  we  shall  have  no  more  marriage  in  fun. 
Then  men  and  women  will  not  enter  the  relation  with  the 
idea  it  is  only  a  trial  trip,  and  if  they  do  not  like  it  they  can 
get  out  at  the  first  landing.  Then  this  whole  question  will 
be  taken  out  of  the  frivolous  into  the  tremendous,  and  there 
will  be  no  more  joking  about  the  blossoms  in  a  bride's  hair 
than  about  the  cypress  on  a  coffin. 

What  we  want  is  that  the  Congress  of  the  United  States 
move  for  the  changing  the  national  Constitution  so  that  a 
law  can  be  passed  which  shall  be  uniform  all  over  the  country, 
and  what  shall  be  right  in  one  State  shall  be  right  in  all  the 
States,  and  what  is  wrong  in  one  State  will  be  wrong  in  all 
the  States. 

How  is  it  now?  If  a  party  in  the  marriage  relation  gets 
dissatisfied,  it  is  only  necessary  to  move  to  another  State  to 
achieve  liberation  from  the  domestic  tie,  and  divorce  is 
effected  so  easy  that  the  first  one  party  knows  of  it  is  by 
seeing  it  in  a  newspaper  that  Kev.  Dr.  Somebody  on  a  certain 
day,  introduced  into  a  new  marriage  relation,  a  member  of  the 
household  who  went  off  on  a  pleasure  excursion  to  Newport, 
or  a  business  excursion  to  Chicago.  Married  at  the  bride's 
house.  No  cards.  There  are  States  of  the  Union  which 
practically  put  a  premium  upon  the  disintegration  of  the 
marriage  relation,  while  there  are  other  States,  like  New  York 
State,  that  has  the  pre-eminent  idiocy  of  making  marriage 
lawful  at  twelve  and  fourteen  years  of  age. 

The  Congress  of  the  United  States  needs  to  move  for  a 
change  of  the  national  Constitution,  and  then  to  appoint  a 
committee — not  made  up  of  single  gentlemen,  but  of  men  of 
families,  and  their  families  in  Washington — who  shall  pre- 
pare a  good,  honest,  righteous,  comprehensive,  uniform  law 


128 


DIVORCE. 


that  will  control  everything  from  Sandy  Hook  to  Golden 
Horn.  That  will  put  an  end  to  brokerages  in  marriage. 
That  will  send  divorce  lawyers  into  a  decent  business.  That 
will  set  people  agitated  for  many  years  on  the  question  of 
how  shall  they  get  away  from  each  other,  to  planning  how 
they  can  adjust  themselves  to  the  more  or  less  unfavorable 
circumstances. 

More  difficult  divorce  will  put  an  estoppal  to  a  great 
extent  upon  marriage  as  a  financial  speculation.  There  are 
men  who  go  into  the  relation  just  as  they  go  into  Wall  Street 
to  purchase  shares.  The  female  to  be  invited  into  the  part- 
nership of  wedlock  is  utterly  unattractive,  and  in  disposition 
a  suppressed  Vesuvius.  Everybody  knows  it,  but  this  mas- 
culine candidate  for  matrimonial  orders,  through  the  com- 
mercial agency  or  through  the  country  records,  find  out  how 
much  estate  is  to  be  inherited,  and  he  calculates  it.  He 
thinks  out  how  long  it  will  be  before  the  old  man  will  die, 
and  whether  he  can  stand  the  refractory  temper  until  he  does 
die,  and  then  he  enters  the  relation;  for  he  says,  "  If  I  can- 
not stand  it,  then  through  the  divorce  law  I'll  back  out." 
That  process  is  going  on  all  the  time,  and  men  enter  the 
relation  without  any  moral  principle,  without  any  affection, 
and  it  is  as  much  a  matter  of  stock  speculation  as  anything 
that  transpires  in  Union  Pacific,  "Wabash  and  Delaware  and 
Lackawanna. 

Now,  suppose  a  man  understood,  as  he  ought  to  under- 
stand, that  if  he  goes  into  that  relation  there  is  no  possibility 
of  his  getting  out,  or  no  probability,  he  would  be  more  slow 
to  put  his  neck  in  the  yoke.  He  should  say  to  himself, 
' '  Bather  than  a  Caribbean  whirlwind  with  a  whole  fleet  of 
shipping  in  its  arms,  give  me  a  zephyr  off  fields  of  sunshine 
and  gardens  of  peace." 

Eigorous  divorce  law  will  also  hinder  woman  from  the 
fatal  mistake  of  marrying  men  to  reform  them.  If  a  young 
man  by  twenty-five  years  of  age,  or  thirty  years  of  age  have 


DIVORCE. 


129 


the  habit  of  strong  drink  fixed'  on  him,  he  is  as  certainly 
bound  for  a  drunkard's  grave  as  that  train  starting  out  from 
Grand  Central  Depot  at  8  o'clock  to-morrow  morning  is 
bound  for  Albany.  It  may  not  reach  Albany,  for  it  may  be 
thrown  from  the  track.  The  young  man  may  not  reach  a 
drunkard's  grave,  for  something  may  throw  him  off  the  iron 
tracks  of  evil  habit;  but  the  probability  is  that  the  train  will 


THE  TEMPTER. 


reach  Albany  and  the  probability  is  that  the  young  man 
who  has  the  habit  of  strong  drink  fixed  on  him  before  thirty 
years  of  age  will  arrive  at  a  drunkard's  grave.  She  knows  he 
drinks.  Everybody  knows  he  drinks.  Parents  warn,  neigh- 
bors and  friends  warn.  She  will  marry  him,  she  will  reform 
him. 

If  she  is  unsuccessful  in  the  experiment,  why  then  the 
divorce  law  will  emancipate  her,  because  habitual  drunken- 
ness is  a  cause  for  divorce  in  Indiana,  Kentucky,  Florida, 


130 


DIVORCE. 


Connecticut,  and  nearly  all  the  States.  So  the  poor  thing 
goes  to  the  altar  of  sacrifice.  If  you  will  show  me  the 
poverty-struck  streets  in  any  city,  I  will  show  you  the  homes 
of  the  women  who  married  men  to  reform  them.  In  one 
case  out  of  ten  thousand  it  may  be  a  successful  experiment. 
I  never  saw  the  successful  experiment.  But  have  a  rigorous 
divorce  law,  and  that  woman  will  say,  "  If  I  am  affianced  to 
that  man,  it  is  for  life;  and  if  now  in  the  ardor  of  his  young 
love,  and  I  am  the  prize  to  be  won,  he  will  not  give  up  his 
cups,  when  he  has  won  the  prize,  surely  he  will  not  give 
up  his  cups."  And  so  that  woman  will  say  to  the  man, 
"  No,  sir,  you  are  already  married  to  the  club,  and  you  are 
married  to  that  evil  habit,  and  so  you  are  married  twice,  and 
you  are  a  bigamist.    Go!  " 

A  rigorous  divorce  law  will  also  do  much  to  hinder  hasty 
and  inconsiderate  marriages.  Under  the  impression  that 
one  can  be  easily  released,  people  enter  the  relation  without 
inquiry,  and  without  reflection.  Eomance  and  impulse  rule 
the  day.  Perhaps  the  only  ground  for  the  marriage  compact 
is  that  she  likes  his  looks,  and  he  admires  the  graceful  way 
she  passes  around  the  ice-cream  at  the  picnic !  It  is  all  they 
know  about  each  other.  It  is  all  the  preparation  for  life.  A 
man,  not  able  to  pay  his  own  board  bill,  with  not  a  dollar  in 
his  possession,  wTill  stand  at  the  altar  and  take  the  loving 
hand,  and  say,  "  With  all  my  worldly  goods  I  thee  endow!  " 
A  woman  that  could  not  make  a  loaf  of  bread  to  save  her 
life,  will  swear  to  cherish  and  obey.  A  Christian  will  marry 
an  atheist,  and  that  alwTays  makes  conjoined  wretchedness; 
for  if  a  man  does  not  believe  there  is  a  God  he  is  neither  to 
be  trusted  with  a  dollar,  nor  with  your  life-long  happiness. 

Having  read  much  about  love  in  a  cottage  people  brought 
up  in  ease  will  go  and  starve  in  a  hovel.  Kunaway  matches 
and  elopements,  ninety-nine  out  of  thousand  of  which  mean 
death  and  hell,  multiplying  on  all  hands.  You  see  them  in 
every  day's  newspapers.  Our  ministers  in  this  region  have  no 


DIVORCE. 


131 


defence  such  as  they  have  in  other  cities  where  the  banns  must 
be  previously  published  and  an  officer  of  the  law  must  give  a 
certificate  that  all  is  right;  so  clergymen  are  left  defenceless, 
and  unite  those  who  ought  never  to  be  united.  Perhaps  they 
are  too  young  or  perhaps  they  are  standing  already  in  some 
domestic  compact. 

By  the  wreck  of  ten  thousand  homes,  by  the  holocaust  of 
ten  thousand  sacrificed  men  and  women,  by  the  hearth-stone 
of  the  family  which  is  the  cornerstone  of  the  State,  and  in 
the  name  of  that  God  who  hath  set  up  the  family  institution 
and  who  hath  made  the  breaking  of  the  marital  oath  the 
most  appalling  of  all  perjuries,  I  implore  the  Congress  of  the 
United  States  to  make  some  righteous,  uniform  law  for  all 
the  States,  and  from  ocean  to  ocean,  on  this  subject  of  mar- 
riage and  divorce. 

And,  fellow-citizens,  as  well  as  fellow-Christians,  let  us 
have  a  divine  rage  against  anything  that  wars  on  the  marriage 
state.  Blessed  institution!  Instead  of  two  arms  to  fight  the 
battle  of  life,  four.  Instead  of  two  eyes  to  scrutinize  the 
path  of  life,  four.  Instead  of  two  shoulders  to  lift  the  burden 
of  life,  four.  Twice  the  energy,  twice  the  courage,  twice  the 
holy  ambitition,  twice  the  probability  of  worldly  success, 
twice  the  prospects  of  heaven.  Into  that  matrimonial  bower 
God  fetches  two  souls.  Outside  the  bower  room  for  all  con- 
tentions, and  all  bickerings,  and  all  controversies,  but  inside 
that  bower  there  is  room  for  only  one  guest — the  angel  of  love. 
Let  that  angel  stand  at  the  floral  doorway  of  this  Edenic 
bower  with  drawn  sword  to  hew  down  the  worst  foe  of  that 
bower — easy  divorce.  And  for  every  Paradise  lost  may  there 
be  a  Paradise  regained.  And  after  we  quit  our  home  here 
may  we  have  a  brighter  home  in  heaven,  at  the  windows  of 
which  this  moment  are  familiar  faces  watching  for  our 
arrival,  and  wondering  why  so  long  we  tarry. 


CHAPTER  IX. 

PROFANITY,  DRUNKENNESS  AND  THE  SOCIAL  EVIL. 

A  procession  was  formed  to  carry  the  Ark  or  sacred  box 
which,  though  only  three  feet  nine  inches  in  length  and  four 
feet  three  inches  in  height  and  depth,  was  the  symbol  of 
God's  presence.  As  the  leaders  of  the  procession  lifted  this 
ornamented  and  brilliant  box  by  two  golden  poles  run 
through  four  golden  rings,  and  started  for  Mount  Zion,  all 
the  people  chanted  the  battle  hymn:  4 4  Let  God  arise; 
let  his  enemies  be  scattered."  The  Cameronians,  of 
Scotland,  outraged  by  James  L,  who  forced  upon  them  reli- 
gious forms  that  were  offensive,  and  by  the  terrible  persecu- 
tion of  Drummond,  Dalziel  and  Turner,  and  by  the  oppres- 
sive laws  of  Charles  I.  and  Charles  II.,  were  driven  to  pro- 
claim war  against  tyrants,  and  went  forth  to  fight  for  reli- 
gious liberty ;  and  the  mountain  heather  became  red  with 
carnage,  and  at  Both  well  Bridge  and  Aird's  Moss  and  Drum- 
clog  the  battle  hymn  and  the  battle  shout  of  those  glorious 
old  Scotchmen  was:  4 4  Let  God  arise;  let  his  enemies  be 
scattered."  What  a  whirlwind 'of  power  was  Oliver  Crom- 
well, and  how  with  his  soldier's  name,  "  the  Ironsides,"  he 
went  from  victory  to  victory!  Opposing  armies  melted  as  he 
looked  at  them.  He  dismissed  parliament  as  easily  as  a 
schoolmaster  a  school.  He  pointed  his  finger  at  Berkeley 
Castle,  and  it  was  taken.  He  ordered  Lord  Hopton,  the 
General,  to  dismount,  and  he  dismounted.  See  Cromwell 
marching  on  with  his  army,  and  hear  the  battle  cry  of  "  the 
Ironsides,"  loud  as  a  storm  and  solemn  as  a  death-knell, 
standards  reeling  before  it,  and  cavalry  horses  going  back  on 
their  haunches,  and  armies  flying  at  Marston  Moor,  at  Win- 

(132) 


PROFANITY,   DRUNKENNESS  AND  THE   SOCIAL  EVIL.  133 

cepy  Field,  at  Naseby,  at  Bridewater  and  Dartmouth.  "  Let 
God  arise;  let  his  enemies  be  scattered." 

You  see  this  is  not  like  a  complimentary  and  tasseled 
sword  that  you  sometimes  see  hung  up  in  a  parlor,  a  sword 
that  was  never  in  battle  and  only  to  be  used  on  general 
training  day,  but  more  like  some  weapon  carefully  hung  up 
in  your  home,  telling  its  story  of  Chapultepec,  Cerro  Gordo 
and  Cherubusco,  and  Thatcher's  Eun,  and  Malvern  Hill;  for 
it  hangs  in  the  Scripture  armory,  telling  of  the  holy  wars  of 
three  thousand  years  in  which  it  has  been  carried,  but  as 
keen  and  mighty  as  when  David  first  unsheathed  it.  It  seems 
to  me  what  in  the  Church  of  God,  and  in  all  styles  of  refor- 
matory work,  we  most  need  now  is  a  battle  cry.  We  raise 
our  little  standard  and  put  on  it  the  name  of  some  man  who 
only  a  few  years  ago  began  to  live,  and  in  a  few  years  will 
cease  to  live.  We  go  into  contests  against  the  -armies  of  ini- 
quity, depending  too  much  on  human  agencies.  We  use  for 
a  battle  cry  the  name  of  some  brave  Christian  reformer,  but 
after  a  while  that  reformer  dies,  or  gets  old,  or  loses  his 
courage,  and  then  we  take  another  battle  cry,  and  this  time  per- 
haps we  put  the  name  of  some  one  who  plays  Arnold  and  sells 
out  to  the  enemy.  What  we  want  for  a  battle  cry  is  the  name  of 
some  leader  who  will  never  betray  us,  and  will  never  surren- 
der, and  will  never  die.  All  respect  have  I  for  brave  men 
and  women,  but  if  we  are  going  to  get  the  victory  all  along 
the  line  we  must  put  God  first.  We  must  take  the  hint  of 
the  Gideonites,  who  wiped  out  the  Bedouin  Arabs,  common- 
ly called  Midianites.  These  Gideonites  had  a  glorious  leader 
in  Gideon,  but  what  was  the  battle  cry  with  which  they  flung 
their  enemies  into  the  worst  defeat  into  which  any  army  has 
ever  tumbled.  It  was :  The  sword  of  the  Lord  and  of  Gide- 
on. Put  God  first,  whoever  you  put  second.  If  the  army  of 
the  American  Bevolution  is  to  free  America,  it  must  be :  The 
sword  of  the  Lord  and  of  Washington.  If  *  the  Germans 
want  to  win  the  day  at  Sedan,  it  must  be:  The  sword  of  the 


134  PROFANITY,   DRUNKENNESS  AND  THE   SOCIAL  EVIL. 

Lord  and  Von  Moltke.  Waterloo  was  won  for  the  English 
because  not  only  the  armed  men  at  the  front  but  the  worship- 
ers in  the  cathedrals  at  the  rear  were  crying:  The  sword  of 
the  Lord  and  Wellington.  The  Methodists  have  gone  in  tri- 
umph across  nation  after  nation  with  the  cry :  The  sword  of 
the  Lord  and  of  Wesley.  The  Presbyterians  have  gone  from 
victory  to  victory  with  the  cry :  The  sword  of  the  Lord  and 
John  Knox.  The  Baptists  have  conquered  millions  after 
millions  for  Christ  with  the  cry :  The  sword  of  the  Lord  and 
of  Judson.  The  American  Episcopalians  have  won  their 
mighty  way  with  the  cry:  The  sword  of  the  Lord  and  of 
Bishop  Mcllvaine.  The  victory  is  to  those  who  put  God 
first.  But  as  we  want  a  battle  cry  suited  to  all  sects  of  reli- 
gionists, and  to  all  lands,  I  nominate  as  the  battle  cry  of 
Christendom  in  the  approaching  Armageddon:  "Let  God 
arise;  let  his  enemies  be  scattered. 

As  far  as  our  finite  mind  can  judge,  it  seems  about  time 
for  God  to  rise.  Does  it  not  seem  that  the  abominations  of 
this  earth  have  gone  far  enough?  Was  there  ever  a  time 
when  sin  was  so  defiant?  Were  there  ever  before  so  many 
fists  lifted  toward  God,  telling  him  to  come  on  if  he  dare? 
Look  at  the  blasphemy  abroad!  What  towering  profanity! 
Would  it  be  possible  for  any  one  to  calculate  the  numbers  of 
times  that  the  name  of  Almighty  God,  and  of  Jesus  Christ, 
are  every  day  taken  irreverently  on  the  lips?  So  common 
has  blasphemy  become  that  the  public  mind  and  public  ear 
have  got  used  to  it,  and  a  blasphemer  goes  up  and  down  this 
country  in  his  lectures  defying  the  plain  law  against  blas- 
phemy, and  there  is  not  a  mayor  in  America  that  has  back- 
bone enough  to  interfere  with  him  save  one,  and  that  the 
Mayor  of  Toronto.  Profane  swearing  is  as  much  forbidden 
by  the  law  as  theft,  or  arson,  or  murder;  yet  who  executes 
it?  Profanity  is  worse  than  theft,  or  arson,  or  murder,  for 
these  crimes  are  attacks  on  humanity — that  is  an  attack  on 
God.    This  country  is  pre-eminent  for  blasphemy.    A  man 


PROFANITY,   DRUNKENNESS  AND  THE   SOCIAL  EVIL.  135 

traveling  in  Kussia  was  supposed  to  be  a  clergyman.  "  Why 
do  you  take  me  to  be  a  clergyman?"  said  the  man.  "  Oh," 
said  the  Eussian,  "  all  other  Americans  swear."  The  crime 
is  multiplying  in  intensity.  God  very  often  shows  what  He 
thinks  of  it,  but  for  the  most  the  fatality  is  hushed  up.  A 
few  summers  ago  among  the  Adirondacks  I  met  the  funeral 
procession  of  a  man  who,  two  days  before,  had  fallen  under 
a  flash  of  lightning  while  boasting,  after  a  Sunday  of  work 
in  the  fields,  that  he  had  cheated  God  out  of  one  day  any- 
how; and  the  man  who  worked  with  him  on  the  same  Sab- 
bath is  still  living,  but  a  helpless  invalid  under  the  same 
flash.  On  the  road  from  Margate  to  Eamsgate,  England, 
you  may  find  a  rough  monument  with  the  inscription :  A  boy 
was  struck  dead  here  while  in  the  act  of  swearing. 

Years  ago  in  a  Pittsburg  prison  two  men  were  talking 
about  the  Bible  and  Christianity,  and  one  of  them,  Thompson 
by  name,  applied  to  Jesus  Christ  a  very  low  and  villainous 
epithet,  and  as  he  was  uttering  it  he  fell.  A  physician  was 
called,  but  no  help  could  be  given.  After  lying  a  day  with 
distended  pupils  and  palsied  tongue,  he  passed  out  of  this 
world.  In  a  cemetery  in  Sullivan  County,  New  York,  are 
eight  head- stones  in  a  line  and  all  alike,  and  these  are  the 
facts:  In  1861  diphtheria  raged  in  the  village,  and  a  physi- 
cian was  remarkably  successful  in  curing  his  patients.  So 
confident  did  he  become  that  he  boasted  that  no  case  of  diph- 
theria could  stand  before  him,  and  finally  defied  Almighty 
God  to  produce  a  Case  of  diphtheria  that  he  could  not  cure. 
His  youngest  child  soon  after  took  the  disease  and  died,  and 
one  child  after  another,  until  all  the  eight  had  died  of  diph- 
theria. The  blasphemer  challenged  Almighty  God,  and  God 
accepted  the  challenge.  But  I  come  later  down  and  give  you 
a  fact  that  is  proved  by  scores  of  witnessses.  In  August  1886 
a  man  got  provoked  at  the  continued  drouth  and  the  ruin  of 
his  crops,  and  in  the  presence  of  his  neighbors  he  cursed  God, 
saying  that  he  would  cut  his  heart  out  if  he  would  come, 


136  PROFANITY,   DRUNKENNESS  AND  THE   SOCIAL  EVIL. 

calling  him  a  liar  and  a  coward,  and  flashing  a  knife.  And 
while  he  was  speaking  his  lower  jaw  dropped,  smoke  issued 
from  mouth  and  nostrils,  and  the  heat  of  his  body  was  so 
intense  it  drove  back  those  who  would  come  near.  Scores  of 
people  visited  the  scene  and  saw  the  blasphemer  in  the  awful 
process  of  expiring.  Do  not  think  that  because  God  has  been 
silent  in  your  case,  0,  profane  swearer!  that  he  is  dead.  Is 
there  nothing  now  in  the  peculiar  feeling  of  your  tongue,  or 
nothing  in  the  numbness  of  your  brain  that  indicates  that 
God  may  come  to  avenge  your  blasphemies,  or  is  already 
avenging  them?  But  these  cases  I  have  noticed,  I  believe, 
are  only  a  few  cases  where  there  are  hundreds.  Families 
keep  them  still  to  avoid  the  horrible  conspicuity.  Physicians 
suppress  them  through  professional  confidence.  It  is  a  very, 
very,  very  long  roll  that  contains  the  names  of  those  who 
died  with  blasphmies  on  their  lips;  and  still  the  crime  rolls 
on,  up  through  parlors,  up  through  chandeliers  with  lights 
all  ablaze,  and  through  the  pictured  corridors  of  club-rooms, 
out  through  busy  exchanges  where  oath  meets  oath,  and 
down  through  all  the  haunts  of  sin,  mingling  with  the  rat- 
tling dice  and  cracking  billiard-balls,  and  the  laughter  of  her 
who  has  forgotted  the  covenant  of  her  God;  and  round  the 
city,  and  round  the  earth  a  seething  boiling  surge  flings  its 
hot  spray  into  the  face  of  a  long  suffering  God.  And  the  ship 
captain  damns  his  crew,  and  the  merchant  damns  his  clerks, 
and  the  master  builder  damns  his  men,  and  the  hack-driver 
damns  his  horses;  and  the  traveler  damns  the  stones  that 
bruises  his  foot,  or  the  mud  that  soils  his  shoes,  or  the  defec- 
tive time-piece  that  gets  him  too  late  to  the  railroad  train.  I 
arrange  profane  swearing  and  blasphemy,  two  names  for  the 
same  thing,  as  being  one  of  the  gigantic  crimes  of  this  land, 
and  for  its  extirpation  it  does  seem  as  if  it  were  about  time 
for  God  to  arise. 

Then  look  a  moment  at  the  evil  of  drunkenness.  Whether 
you  live  in  Brooklyn  or  New  York,  or  Chicago,  or  Cincinnati, 


PROFANITY,    DRUNKENNESS  AND  THE  SOCIAL  EVIL.  K)7 

or  Savannah,  or  Boston,  or  in  any  of  the  cities  of  this  land, 


DRUNKARD  PITCHED  OUT. 

count  up  the  saloons  on  that  street  as  compared  with  the 


138   PROFANITY,   DRUNKENNESS  AND  THE   SOCIAL  EVIL. 

saloons  five  years  ago,  and  see  they  are  growing  far  out  of 
proportion  to  the  increase  of  the  population.  You  people 
who  are  so  precise  and  particular  lest  there  should  be  some 
imprudence  or  rashness  in  attacking  the  rum  traffic,  will  have 
your  son  some  night  pitched  into  your  front  door  dead  drunk, 
or  your  daugter  will  come  home  with  her  children  because 
her  husband  has  by  strong  drink  turned  into  a  demoniac. 
The  rum  fiend  has  despoiled  whole  streets  of  good  homes  in 
all  our  cities.  Fathers,  brothers,  sons,  on  the  funeral  pyre 
of  strong  drink!  Fasten  tighter  the  victims!  Stir  up  the 
flames.  Pile  on  the  corpses!  More  men,  women  and  children 
for  the  sacrifice !  Let  us  have  whole  generations  on  fire  of 
evil  habit;  and  at  the  sound  of  the  cornet,  flute,  harp,  sack- 
but,  psaltery  and  dulcimer  let  all  the  people  fall  down  and 
worship  King  Alcohol,  or  you  shall  be  cast  into  the  fiery  fur- 
nace under  some  political  platform!  I  indict  this  evil  as  the 
fratricide,  the  patricide,  the  matricide,  the  uxortcide,  the  regi- 
cide of  the  century.  Yet  under  what  innocent  and  delusive 
and  mirthful  names  alcoholism  decives  the  people.  It  is  a 
"  cordial."  It  is  "  bitters"  It  is  an  "  eye-opener."  It  is  an 
"appetizer."  It  is  a  "digester."  It  is  an  "  invigorator." 
It  is  a  "  settler."  It  is  a  "  night-cap."  Why  don't  they  put 
on  the  right  labels — "Essence  of  Perdition,"  "Conscience 
Stupefier,"  "Five  Drachms  of  Heartache,"  "Tears  of 
Orphanage,"  "Blood  of  Souls,"  "Scabs  of  an  Eternal 
Leprosy,"  "Venom  of  the  "Worm  That  Never  Dies."  Only 
once  in  a  while  is  there  anything  in  the  title  of  liquors  to 
even  hint  their  atrocity,  as  in  the  case  of  sour  mash.  That  I 
see  advertised  all  over.  It  is  an  honest  name  and  any  one 
can  understand  it.  Sour  mash!  That  is,  it  makes  a  man's 
disposition  sour,  and  his  associations  sour,  and  his  prospects 
sour;  and  then  it  is  good  to  mash  his  body,  and  mash  his 
soul,  and  mash  his  business,  and  mash  his  family.  Sour 
mash!  One  honest  name  at  last  for  an  intoxicant!  But 
through  lying  labels  of  many  of  the  apothecaries'  shops  good 


PROFANITY    DRUNKENNESS   AND   THE   SOCIAL  EVIL.  139 

people,  who  are  only  a  little  undertone  in  health  and  wanting 
of  some  invigoration,  have  unwittingly  got  on  their  tongue 
the  fangs  of  this  cobra  that  stings  to  death  so  large  a  ratio  of 
the  human  race. 

Others  are  ruined  by  the  common  and  all-destructive 
habit  of  treating  customers.  And  it  is  a  treat  on  their 
coming  to  town,  and  a  treat  while  the  bargaining  pro- 
gresses, and  a  treat  when  the  purchase  is  made,  and  a  treat 
as  he  leaves  town.  Others,  to  drown  their  troubles,  submerge 
themselves  with  this  worse  trouble.  Oh,  the  world  is  battered, 
and  bruised,  and  blasted  with  this  growing  evil!  It  is  more 
and  more  entranced  and  fortified.  They  have  millions  of 
dollars  subscribed  to  marshal  and  advance  the  alcoholic  forces. 
They  nominate,  and  elect,  and  govern  the  vast  majority  of 
the  office-holders  of  this  country.  On  their  side  they  have 
enlisted  the  mightiest  political  power  of  the  centuries.  And 
behind  them  stand  all  the  myrmidons  of  the  nether  world, 
Satanic,  and  Apollyonic,  and  diabolic.  It  is  beyond  all 
human  effort  to  throw  this  bastile  of  decanters  or  capture 
this  Gibralter  of  rum  jugs.  And  while  I  approve  of  all 
human  agencies  of  reform,  I  would  utterly  despair,  if  we  had 
nothing  else.  But  what  cheers  me  is  that  our  best  troops  are 
yet  to  come.  Our  chief  artillery  is  in  reserve.  Our  greatest 
commander  has  not  yet  fully  taken  the  field.  If  all  hell  is 
on  their  side,  all  heaven  is  on  our  side.  No^Tr  "  Let  God 
arise;  and  let  his  enemies  be  scattered. 

Then  look  at  the  impurities  of  these  great  cities.  Ever 
and  anon  there  are  in  the  newspapers  explosions  of  social 
life  that  make  the  story  of  Sodom  quite  respectable;  for  such 
things,  Christ  says,  were  more  tolerable  for  Sodom  and  Go- 
morrah than  for  the  Chorazins  and  Bethsaidas  of  greater 
light.  It  is  no  unusual  thing  in  our  cities  to  see  men  in 
high  position  with  two  or  three  families,  or  refined  ladies 
willing  solemnly  to  marry  the  very  swine  of  society  if  they 
be  wealthy.    Brooklyn,  whose  streets  fifteen  years  ago  were 


140   PROFANITY.   DRUNKENNESS  AtfD  THE   SOCIAL  EVIL. 

almost  free  from  all  sign  of  the  social  evil,  now  night  by 
night  rivaling  upper  Broadway  in  its  flamboyant  wickedness. 
The  Bible  all  aflame  with  denunciation  against  an  impure 
life,  but  many  of  the  American  ministry  uttering  not  one 
point-blank  word  against  this  iniquity,  lest  some  old  liber- 
tine throw  up  his  church  pew.  Machinery  organized  in  all 
the  cities  of  the  United  States  and  Canada  by  which  to  put 
yearly  in  the  grinding  mill  of  this  iniquity  thousands  of  the 
unsuspecting  of  the  country  farm-houses,  one  procuress  con- 
fessing last  week  in  the  courts  that  she  had  supplied  the  in- 
fernal market  with  one  hundred  and  fifty  souls  in  six  months. 
Oh,  for  five  hundred  Pall  Mall  Gazettes  in  America  to  swing 
open  the  door  of  this  lazar-house  of  social  corruption.  Ex- 
posure must  come  before  extirpation.  While  the  city  van 
carries  the  scum  of  this  sin  from  the  prison  to  the  police 
court  morning  by  mornnig,  it  is  full  time,  if  we  do  not  want 
high  American  life  to  become  like  that  of  the  court  of  Louis 
XV.,  to  put  millionaire  Lofcharios  and  Pompadours  of  your 
brown-stone  palaces  into  a  van  of  popular  indignation,  and 
drive  them  out  of  respectable  associations.  "What  prospect 
of  social  purification  can  there  be  as  long  as  at  summer 
watering  places  it  is  usual  to  see  a  young  woman  of  excel- 
lent rearing  stand,  and  simper,  and  giggle,  and  roll  up  her 
eyes  sideways  before  one  of  those  first-class  satyrs  of  fash- 
ionable life,  and  on  the  ball-room  floor  join  hirn  in  the 
square  dance,  the  maternal  chaperone  meanwhile  beaming 
from  the  wall  on  the  scene?  Matches  are  made  in  heaven, 
they  say.  Not  such  matches,  for  the  brimstone  indicates 
the  opposite  region.  The  evil  is  overshadowing  all  our 
cities.  By  some  these  immoralities  are  called  peccadilloes, 
gallantries,  eccentricities,  and  relegated  to  the  realms  of  joc- 
ularity, and  few  efforts  are  being  made  against  it.  God 
bless  the  "  White  Cross  "  movement  as  it  is  called,  the  excel- 
lent and  talented  Miss  .Frances  Willard,  its  ablest  advocate 
on  this  side  the  sea,  an  organization  making  a  mighty 


PROFANITY,   DRUNKENNESS  AND  THE  SOCIAL  EVIL.  141 


assault  on  this  evil!  God  forward  the  tracts  on  this  subject 
distributed  by  the  religious  tract  societies  of  the  land !  God 
help  parents  in  the  great  work  they  are  doing  in  trying  to 
start  their  children  with  pure  principles !  God  help  all  leg- 
islators in  their 
attempt  to  inhibit 
this  crime.  But 
is  this  all?  Then 
it  is  only  a  ques- 
tion of  time  when 
the  last  vestige  of 
purity  and  home 
will  vanish  out 
of  sight.  Human 
arms,  hum  a  n 
pen  s ,  human 
voices,  human 
talents  are  not 
sufficient.  I  be- 
gin to  look  up.  I 
listen  for  artillery 
rumbling  down 
the  sapphire  boul- 
evards of  heaven. 
I  watch  to  see  if 
in  the  morning 
light  there  be  not 
the  flash  of  descending  scimitars.  Oh,  for  God!  Does  it 
not  seem  time  for  his  appearance?  Is  it  not  time  for  all 
lands  to  cry  out:  "Let  God  arise;  and  let  his  enemies  be 
scattered!  " 

I  received  a  letter  sometime  ago  asking  me  if  I  did  not 
think  that  the  earthquake  in  Charleston  was  the  divine  chas- 
tisement on  that  city  for  its  sins.  That  letter  I  answer  by 
saying  that  if  all  our  American  cities  got  all  the  punishment 


142  PROFANITY,   DRUNKENNESS  AND  THE   SOCIAL  EVIL. 

they  deserve  for  their  horrible  impurities,  the  earth  would 
long  ago  have  cracked  open  into  crevices  transcontinental, 
and  taken  down  all  our  cities ;  and  Brooklyn  and  New  York 
would  have  gone  so  far  under  that  the  tip  of  our  church 
spires  would  be  five  hundred  feet  below  the  surface.  It  is  of 
the  Lord's  mercies  that  we  have  not  been  consumed.  Not 
only  are  the  affairs  of  this  world  so  a- twist,  a- jangle  and 
racked,  that  there  seems  a  need  of  the  divine  appearance,  but 
there  is  another  reason.  Have  you  noticed  that  in  the  his- 
tory of  this  planet  God  turns  a  leaf  about  every  two  thou- 
sand years?  God  turned  a  leaf  and  this  world  was  fitted  for 
human  residence.  About  two  thousand  years  or  more 
passed  along  and  God  turned  another  leaf,  and  it  was  the 
deluge.  About  two  thousand  years  more  passed  on,  and  it 
was  the  appearance  of  Christ.  Almost  two  thousand  more 
years  have  passed  by,  and  he  will  probably  soon  turn  another 
leaf.  What  it  shall  be  I  cannot  say.  It  may  be  the  demo- 
lition of  all  these  monstrosities  of  turpitude  and  the  estab- 
lishment of  righteousness  in  all  the  earth.  He  can  do  it, 
and  he  will  do  it.  I  am  as  confident  as  if  it  were  already 
accomplished.  How  easily  he  can  do  it.  Let  God  arise! 
We  do  not  ask  God  to  strike  with  his  right  hand,  or  stamp 
with  his  foot,  or  hurl  a  thunderbolt  of  his  power,  but  just  to 
get  up  from  the  throne  on  which  he  sits.  Only  that  will  be 
necessary.  It  will  be  no  exertion  of  omnipotence.  It  will 
be  no  bending  or  bracing  for  a  mighty  lift.  It  will  be  no 
sending  down  the  sky  of  the  white  horse  cavalry  of  heaven 
or  rumbling  war  chariots.  He  will  only  rise.  Now  he  is 
sitting  in  the  majesty  and  patience  of  his  reign.  He  is 
from  his  throne  wTatching  the  mustering  of  all  the  forces  of 
blasphemy  and  drunkenness  and  impurity  and  fraud  and 
Sabbath -breaking,  and  when  they  have  done  their  worst  and 
are  most  securely  organized,  he  will  bestir  himself  and  say: 
"  My  enemies  have  defied  me  long  enough,  and  their  cup  of 
iniquity  is  full.    I  have  given  them  all  opportunity  for 


PROFANITY,   DRUNKENNESS   AND  THE   SOCIAL  EVIL.  143 

repentance.  This  dispensation  of  patience  is  ended,  and  the 
faith  of  the  good  shall  be  tried  no  longer."  And  now  God 
begins  to  rise,  and  what  mountains  give  way  under  his  right 
foot  and  what  continents  sink  under  his  left  foot  I  know 
not;  but  standing  in  the  full  height  and  radiance  and  gran- 
deur of  his  nature,  he  looks  this  way  and  that,  and  how  his 
enemies  are  scattered!  Blasphemers,  white  and  dumb,  reel 
down  to  their  doom;  and  those  who  have  trafficked  in  that 
which  destroys  the  bodies  and  souls  of  men  and  families  will 
fly  with  cut  foot  on  the  down  grade  of  broken  decanters; 
and  the  polluters  of  society,  that  did  their  bad  work  with 
large  fortunes  and  high  social  sphere,  will  overtake  in  their 
descent  the  degraded  rabble  of  underground  city  life  as  they 
tumble  over  the  eternal  precipices ;  and  the  j  world  shall  be 
left  clear  and  clean  for  the  friends  of  humanity  and  the  wor- 
shipers of  Almighty  God.  The  last  thorn  plucked  off,  the 
world  will  be  left  a  blooming  rose  on  the  bosom  of  that 
Christ  who  came  to  gardenize  it.  This  earth  that  stood 
snarling  with  its  tigerish  passion,  thrusting  out  its  raging 
claws,  shall  lie  down  a  lamb  at  the  feet  of  the  Lamb  of  God 
who  took  away  the  sins  of  the  world. 

And  now  the  best  thing  I  can  wish  for  you,  and  the  best 
thing  I  can  wish  for  myself,  is  that  we  may  be  found  his 
warm  and  undisguised  and  enthusiastic  friends  in  that  hour 
when  God  shall  rise  and  his  enemies  shall  be  scattered. 


CHAPTER  X. 


GAMBLING. 

The  money  that  Judas  got  for  surrendering  Christ  was 
used  to  purchase  a  grave-yard.  As  the  money  was  blood- 
money,  the  ground  bought  by  it  was  called  in  the  Syriac 
tongue,  Aceldama,  meaning  "the  field  of  blood."  There  is 
one  word  I  want  to  write  over  every  race-course  where 
wagers  are  staked,  and  every  pool-room,  and  every  gambling 
saloon  and  every  table,  public  or  private,  where  men  and 
women  bet  for  sums  of  money,  large  or  small,  and  that  is  a 
word  incarnadined  with  the  life  of  innumerable  victims- — 
Aceldama.  The  gambling  spirit,  which  is  at  all  times  a 
stupendous  evil,  ever  and  anon  sweeps  over  the  country  like 
an  epidemic,  prostrating  uncounted  thousands .  There  has 
never  been  a  worse  attack  than  that  from  which  all  the  vil- 
lages, towns  and  cities  are  now  suffering.  The  farces  re- 
cently enacted  in  Brooklyn  court-room,  by  which  it  was 
proved  that  in  the  City  of  Churches  there  is  not  enough  moral 
force  to  put  into  the  Penitentiary  the  gambling  jockeys  who 
belong  there,  is  only  a  specimen  of  the  power  gained  by  this 
abomination,  which  is  brazen,  sanguinary,  trans-continental 
and  hemispheric. 

While  among  my  readers  are  those  who  have  passed  on 
into  the  afternoon  of  life,  and  the  shadows  are  lengthening, 
and  the  sky  crimsons  with  the  glow  of  the  setting  sun,  a  large 
number  of  them  are  in  early  life,  and  the  morning  is  coming 
down  out  of  the  clear  sky  upon  them,  and  the  bright  air  is 
redolent  with  spring  blossoms,  and  the  stream  of  life,  gleam- 
ing and  glancing,  rushes  on  between  flowery  banks,  making 
music  as  it  goes.    Some  of  you  are  engaged  in  mercaP^^ 

(141) 


GAMBLING. 


145 


concerns,  as  clerks  and  book-keepers,  and  your  whole  life  is 
to  be  passed  in  the  exciting  world  of  traffic.  The  sound  of 
busy  life  stirs  you  as  the  drum  stirs  the  fiery  war-horse. 
Others  are  in  the  mechanical  arts,  to  hammer  and  chisel  your 
way  through  life,  and  success  awaits  you.  Some  are  preparing 
for  professional  life,  and  grand  opportunities  are  before  you; 
nay,  some  of  you  already  have  buckled  on  the  armor.  But, 
whatever  your  age  and  calling,  the  subject  of  gambling  is 
pertinent.  Some  years  ago,  when  an  association  for  the 
suppression  of  gambling  was  organized,  an  agent  of  the 
association  came  to  a  prominent  citizen  and  asked  him  to 
patronize  the  society.  He  said:  "No,  I  can  have  no  interest 
in  such  an  organization.  I  am  in  no  wise  affected  by  that 
evil."  At  that  very  moment  his  son,  who  was  his  partner  in 
business,  was  one  of  the  heaviest  players  in  "Heme's"  famous 
gambling  establishment.  Another  refused  his  patronage  on 
the  same  ground,  not  knowing  that  his  first  book-keeper, 
though  receiving  a  salary  of  only  a  thousand  dollars,  was 
losing  from  fifty  to  one  hundred  dollars  a  night.  The  Presi- 
dent of  a  railroad  company  refused  to  patronize  the  institu- 
tion, saying:  "That  society  is  good  for  the  defense  of  mer- 
chants, but  we  railroad  people  are  not  injured  by  this  evil." 
Not  knowing  that,  at  that  very  time,  two  of  his  conductors 
were  spending  three  nights  of  each  week  at  faro  tables. 
Directly  or  indirectly  this  evil  strikes  at  the  whole  world. 
Gambling  is  the  risking  of  something  more  or  less  valuable 
in  the  hope  of  winning  more  than  you  hazard.  The  instru- 
ments of  gambling  may  differ,  but  the  principle  is  the  same. 
The  shuffling  and  dealing  cards,  however  full  of  temptation, 
is  not  gambling  unless  stakes  are  put  up ;  while  on  the  other 
hand,  gambling  may  be  carried  on  without  cards,  or  dice,  or 
billiards,  or  a  ten-pin  alley.  The  man  who  bets  on  horses, 
on  elections,  on  battles,  the  man  who  deals  in  "fancy"  stocks, 
or  conducts  a  business  which  hazards  extra  capital,  or  goes 
into  transactions  without  foundation,  but  dependent  upon 
what  men  call  "luck,"  is  a  gambler. 


146 


GAMBLING. 


It  is  estimated  that  one-fourth  of  the  business  in  London 
is  done  dishonestly.  Whatever  you  expect  to  get  from  your 
neighbor  without  offering  an  equivalent  in  money,  or  time, 
or  skill,  is  either  the  product  of  theft  or  gaming.  Lottery 
tickets  and  lottery  policies  come  into  the  same  category. 
Fairs  for  the  founding  of  hospitals,  schools  and  churches, 
conducted  on  the  raffling  system,  come  under  the  same 
denomination.  Do  not,  therefore,  associate  gambling  neces- 
sarily with  any  instrument,  or  game,  or  time,  or  place,  or 
think  the  principle  depends  upon  whether  you  play  for  a  glass 
of  wine  or  one  hundred  shares  of  railroad  stock.  Whether 
you  patronize  "auction-pools"  "French  mutuals"  or  "book- 
making,"  whether  you  employ  faro  or  billiards,  rondo  and 
keno,  cards  or  bagatelle,  the  very  idea  of  the  thing  is  dishon- 
est; for  it  professes  to  bestow  upon  you  a  good  for  which 
you  give  no  equivalent.  This  crime  is  no  new-born  sprite, 
but  a  haggard  transgression  that  comes  staggering  down 
under  a  mantle  of  curses  through  many  centuries.  All 
nations,  barbarous  and  civilized  have  been  addicted  to  it. 
Before  1838  the  French  Government  received  revenue  from 
gaming  houses.  In  1567  England,  for  the  improvement  of 
her  harbors,  instituted  a  lottery  to  be  held  at  the  front  door 
of  St.  Paul's  Cathedral.  Four  hundred  thousand  tickets 
were  sold  at  ten  shillings  each.  The  British  Museum  and 
Westminster  bridge  were  partially  built  by  similar  proced- 
ures. The  ancient  Germans  would  sometimes  put  up  them- 
selves and  families  as  prizes,  and  suffer  themselves  to  be 
bound,  though  stronger  than  the  persons  who  won  them. 

But  now  the  laws  of  the  whole  civilized  world  denounce 
the  system.  Enactments  have  been  passed,  but  only  partial- 
ly enforced,  and  at  times  not  enforced  at  all.  The  men  in- 
terested in  gaming  houses,  and  in  jockey  clubs,  wield  such 
influence  by  their  numbers  and  affluence  that  the  judge,  the 
jury  and  the  police  officer  must  be  bold  indeed  who  would 
array  themselves  against  these  infamous  establishments.  The 


GAMBLING. 


147 


House  of  Commons,  of  England,  actually  adjourns  on  Derby 
Day  to  go  out  and  bet  on  the  races;  and  in  the  best  circles  of 
society  in  this  country  to-day  are  many  hundreds  of  profess- 
edly respectable  men  who  are  acknowledged  gamblers.  Hun- 
dreds of  thousands  of  dollars  in  this  land  are  every  day  being 
won  and  lost  through  sheer  gambling.  Says  a  traveler 
through  the  West:  "  I  have  traveled  a  thousand  miles  at  a 
time  upon  the  Western  waters,  and  seen  gambling  at  every 
waking  moment  from  the  commencement  to  the  termination 
of  the  journey."  The  Southwest  of  this  country  reeks  with 
this  sin.  In  some  of  those  cities  every  third  or  fourth  house 
in  many  of  the  streets  is  a  gaming  place,  and  it  may  be  truth- 
fully averred  that  each  of  our  cities  is  cursed  with  this  evil. 

In  themselves  most  of  the  games  employed  in  gamb- 
ling are  without  harm.  Billiard  tables  are  as  harmless 
as  tea  tables,  and  a  pack  of  cards  as  a  pack  of  letter 
envelopes,  unless  stakes  be  put  up.  But  by  their  use 
for  gambling  purposes  they  have  become  significant  of 
an  infinity  of  wretchedness  —  six  hundred  gambling  sa- 
loons in  New  York  City  when  last  counted.  Men  wishing 
to  gamble,  will  find  places  just  suited  to  their  capacity,  not 
only  in  the  under-ground  oyster  cellar,  or  at  the  table  back 
of  the  curtain,  covered  with  greasy  cards,  or  in  the  steamboat 
smoking  cabin,  where  the  bloated  wretch  with  rings  in  his 
ears  deals  out  his  pack  and  winks  at  the  unsuspecting  travel- 
er— providing  free  drinks  all  around — but  in  gilded  parlors 
and  amid  gorgeous  surroundings. 

This  sin  works  ruin  first,  by  unhealthful  stimulants.  Ex- 
citement is  pleasurable.  Under  every  sky  and  in  every  age 
men  have  sought  it.  The  Chinaman  gets  it  by  smoking  his 
opium;  the  Persian  by  chewing  hashish;  the  trapper  in  a 
buffalo-hunt;  the  sailor  in  a  squall;  the  inebriate  in  the  bot- 
tle, and  the  avaricious  at  the  gaming  table.  We  must  at 
times  have  excitement.  A  thousand  voices  in  our  nature  de- 
mand it.    It  is  right.    It  is  healthful.    It  is  inspiriting.  It 


148 


GAMBLING. 


is  a  desire  God-given.  But  anything  that  first  gratifies  this 
appetite  and  hurls  it  back  in  a  terrific  reaction  is  deplorable 
and  wicked.    Look  out  for  the  agitation  that,  like  a  rough 


PRIVATE  WINE  AND  GAMBLING  ROOM. 


musician,  in  bringing  out  the  tune  plays  so  hard  he  breaks 
down  the  instrument.  God  never  made  man  strong  enough 
to  endure  the  wear  and  tear  of  gambling  excitement.  No 
wonder  if,  after  having  failed  in  the  game,  men  have  begun 
to  sweep  off  imaginary  gold  from  the  side  of  the  table.  The 


GAMBLING. 


149 


man  was  sharp  enough  when  he  started  at  the  game,  but  a 
maniac  at  the  close.  At  every  gaming  table  sit  on  one  side 
Ecstasy,  Enthusiasm,  Eomance — the  frenzy  of  joy;  on  the 
other  side  Fierceness,  Eage  and  Tumult.  The  professional 
gamester  schools  himself  into  apparent  quietness.  The 
keepers  of  gambling  rooms  are  generally  fat,  rollicking  and 
obese;  but  thorough  and  professional  gamblers,  in  nine 
cases  out  of  ten,  are  pale,  thin,  wheezing,  tremulous  and  ex- 
hausted. 

A  young  man  having  suddenly  inherited  a  large  property, 
sits  at  the  hazard  tables  and  takes  up  in  a  dice  box  the  estate 
won  by  a  father's  lifetime  sweat,  and  shakes  it,  and  tosses  it 
away.  Intemperance  soon  stigmatizes  its  victim — kicking 
him  out,  a  slavering  fool,  into  the  ditch,  or  sending  him,  with 
the  drunkard's  hiccough,  staggering  up  the  street  where  his 
family  lives.  But  gambling  does  not  in  that  way  expose  its 
victims.  The  gambler  may  be  eaten  up  by  the  gambler's 
passion,  yet  you  only  discover  it  by  the  greed  in  his  eyes,  the 
hardness  of  his  features,  the  nervous  restlessness,  the  thread- 
bare coat,  and  his  embarrassed  business.  Yet  he  is  on  the 
road  to  hell,  and  no  preacher's  voice,  or  startling  warning, 
or  wife's  entreaty,  can  make  him  stay  for  a  moment  his  head- 
long career.  The  infernal  spell  is  on  him ;  a  giant  is  aroused 
within,  and  though  you  bind  him  with  cables,  they  would 
part  like  thread,  and  though  you  fasten  him  seven  times 
round  with  chains,  they  would  snap  like  rusted  wire;  and 
though  you  piled  up  in  his  path  heaven-high,  Bibles,  tracts 
and  sermons,  and  on  the  top  should  set  the  cross  of  the  Son 
of  God,  over  them  all  the  gambler  would  leap  like  a  roe  over 
the  rocks,  on  his  way  to  perdition. 

Again,  this  sin  works  ruin  by  killing  industry.  A  man 
used  to  reaping  scores  or  hundreds  of  dollars  from  the  gam- 
ing table  will  not  be  content  with  slow  work.  He  will  say: 
"  What  is  the  use  of  trying  to  make  these  fifty  dollars  in  my 
store  when  I  can  get  five  times  that  in  half  an  hour  down  at 


150 


GAMBLING. 


Billy's?"  You  never  knew  a  confirmed  gambler  who  was  in- 
dustrious. The  men  given  to  this  vice  spend  their  time,  not 
actively  employed  in  the  game,  in  idleness,  or  intoxication, 
or  sleep,  or  in  corrupting  new  victims.  This  sin  has  dulled 
the  carpenter's  saw  and  cut  the  band  of  the  factory  wheel, 
sunk  the  cargo,  broken  the  teeth  of  the  farmer's  harrow,  and 
sent  a  strange  lightning  to  shatter  the  battery  of  the  philo- 
sopher. The  very  first  idea  in  gaming  is  at  war  with  all  the 
industries  of  society.  Any  trade  or  occupation  that  is  of  use 
is  ennobling.  The  street-sweeper  advances  the  interests  of 
socitey  by  the  cleanliness  effected.  The  cat  pays  for  the 
fragments  it  eats  by  cleaning  the  house  of  virmin.  The  fly 
that  takes  the  sweetness  from  the  dregs  of  the  cup,  compen- 
sates by  purifying  the  air  and  keeping  back  the  pestilence. 
But  the  gambler  gives  not  anything  for  that  which  he  takes. 
I  recall  that  sentence.  He  does  make  a  return ;  but  it  is  a 
disgrace  to  the  man  he  fleeces,  despair  to  his  heart,  ruin  to 
his  business,  anguish  to  his  wife,  shame  to  his  children,  and 
eternal  wasting  away  to  his  soul.  He  pays  in  tears  and  blood 
and  agony  and  darkness  and  woe.  What  dull  work  is  plow- 
ing to  the  farmer  when  in  the  village  saloon  in  one  night  he 
makes  and  loses  the  value  of  a  summer  harvest!  Who  will 
want  to  sell  tape  and  measure  nankeen,  and  cut  garments, 
and  weigh  sugars,  when  in  a  night's  game  he  makes  and 
loses,  and  makes  again  and  loses  again  the  profits  of  a  sea- 
son? John  Borack  was  sent  as  mercantile  agent  from  Bre- 
men to  England  and  this  country.  After  two  years  his  em- 
ployers mistrusted  that  all  was  not  right.  He  was  a  defaulter 
for  eighty-seven  thousand  dollars.  It  was  fonn#  that  he  lost 
in  Lombard  street,  London,  twenty-nine  thousand  dollars, 
in  Fulton  street,  New  York,  ten  thousand  dollars,  and  in  New 
Orleans,  three  thousand  dollars.  He  was  imprisoned,  but 
afterward  escaped,  and  went  into  the  gambling  profession. 
He  died  in  a  lunatic  asylum.  This  crime  is  getting  its  lever 
under  many  a  mercantile  house  in  our  cities,  and  before  long 


GAMBLING. 


151 


down  will  come  the  great  establishment,  crushing  reputa- 


THE  STREET  SWEEPER. 

tion,  home  comfort  and  immortal  souls.  How  it  diverts  and 
sinks  capital  may  be  inferred  from  some  mthmtic  statements 


152 


GAMBLING. 


before  us.  The  ten  gaming  houses  that  once  were  authorized 
in  Paris  passed  through  the  banks  yearly  three  hundred  and 
twenty-five  million  francs. 

Where  does  all  the  money  come  from?  The  whole  world 
is  robbed!  What  is  most  sad,  there  are  no  consolations  for 
the  loss  and  suffering  entailed  by  gaming.  If  men  fall  in 
lawful  business,  God  pities  and  society  commiserates;  but 
where,  in  the  Bible  or  society,  is  there  any  consolation  for 
the  gambler?  From  what  tree  of  the  forest  oozes  there  a 
balm  that  can  soothe  the  gamester's  heart?  In  that  bottle 
where  God  keeps  the  tears  of  his  children,  are  there  any  tears 
of  the  gambler?  Do  the  winds  that  come  to  kiss  the  faded 
cheek  of  sickness  and  to  cool  the  heated  brow  of  the  laborer, 
whisper  hope  and  cheer  to  the  emaciated  victim  of  the  game 
of  hazard?  When  an  honest  man  is  in  trouble,  he  has  sym- 
pathy. "Poor  fellow!"  they  say.  But,  do  gamblers  come 
to  weep  at  the  agonies  of  the  gambler?  In  Northumberland 
was  one  of  the  finest  estates  in  England.  Mr.  Porter  owned 
it,  and  in  a  year  gambled  it  all  away.  Having  lost  the  last  acre 
of  the  estate,  he  came  down  from  the  saloon  and  got  into  his 
carriage;  went  back;  put  up  his  horses  and  carriage  and 
town  house  and  played.  He  threw  and  lost.  He  started  for 
home,  and  on  a  side  alley  met  a  friend,  from  whom  he  bor- 
rowed ten  guineas;  he  went  back  to  the  saloon,  and  before  a 
great  while,  had  won  twenty  thousand  pounds.  He  died  at 
last  a  beggar  in  St.  Giles.  How  many  gamblers  felt  sorry 
for  Mr.  Porter?  Who  consoled  him  on  the  loss  of  his  estate? 
What  gambler  subscribed  to  put  a  stone  over  the  poor  man's 
grave?  Not  one!  Furthermore,  this  sin  is  the  source  of 
uncounted  dishonesty.  The  game  of  hazard  itself  is  often  a 
a  cheat.  How  many  tricks  and  deceptions  in  the  dealing  of 
the  cards!  The  opponent's  hand  is  ofttimes  found  out  by 
fraud.  Cards  are  marked  so  that  they  may  be  designated 
from  the  back.  Expert  gamesters  have  their  accomplices, 
and  one  wink  may  decide  the  game.    The  dice  have  been 


GAMBLING 


153 


found  loaded  with  platina,  so  that  doublets  come  up  every 
time.  These  dice  are  introduced  by  the  gamblers  unobserved 
by  the  honest  men  who  have  come  into  the  play,  and  this 
accounts  for  the  fact  that  ninety-nine  out  of  a  hundred  who 
gamble,  however  wealthy  when  they  began,  at  the  end  are 
found  to  be  poor,  miserable,  haggard  wretches,  that  would 
not  now  be  allowed  to  sit  on  the  doorstep  of  the  house  that 
they  once  owned.  In  a  gaming-house  in  San  Francisco,  a 
young  man  having  just  come  from  the  mines  deposited  a 
large  sum  upon  the  race  and  won  twenty-two  thousand  dol- 
lars. But  the  tide  turns.  Intense  anxiety  comes  upon  the 
countenances,  of  all.  Slowly  the  cards  went  forth.  Every 
eye  is  fixed.  Not  a  sound  is  heard,  until  the  ace  is  revealed 
favorable  to  the  bank.  There  are  shouts  of  "Foul!  foul!" 
but  the  keepers  of  the  table  produce  their  pistols,  and  the 
uproar  is  silenced  and  the  bank  has  won  ninety-five  thousand 
dollars.  Do  you  call  this  a  game  of  chance?  There  is  no 
chance  about  it.  But  these  dishonesties  in  the  carrying  on 
of  the  game  are  nothing  when  compared  with  the  frauds  that 
are  committed  in  order  to  get  money  to  go  on  with  the  nefari- 
ous work.  Gambling,  with  its  needy  hand,  has  snatched 
away  the  widow's  mite  and  the  portion  of  the  orphans;  has 
sold  the  daughter's  virtue  to  get  the  means  to  continue  the 
game;  has  written  the  counterfeit's  signature,  emptied  the 
banker's  money  vault,  and  wielded  the  assassin's  dagger. 
There  is  no  depth  of  meanness  to  which  it  will  not  stoop. 
There  is  no  cruelty  at  which  it  is  appalled.  There  is  no 
warning  of  God  that  it  will  not  dare.  Merciless,  unappeas- 
able, fiercer  and  wilder  it  blinds,  it  hardens,  it  rends,  it 
blasts,  it  crushes,  it  damns.  It  has  peopled  our  prisons  and 
lunatic  asylums. 

How  many  railroad  agents,  and  cashiers  and  trustees  of 
funds  it  has  driven  to  disgrace,  incarceration  and  suicide. 
Witness  years  ago  a  cashier  of  the  Central  Bailroad  and 
Banking  Company  of  Georgia  who  stole  one  hundred  and 


154 


GAMBLING. 


three  thousand  dollars  to  carry  on  his  gaming  practices. 
Witness  the  forty  thousand  dollars  stolen  from  a  Brooklyn 
bank  within  the  memory  of  many,  and  the  one  hundred  and 
eighty  thousand  dollars  taken  from  a  Wall  street  insurance 
company  for  the  same  purpose.  These  are  only  illustrations 
on  a  large  scale  of  the  robberies  committed  for  the  purpose 
of  carrying  out  the  designs  of  gamblers.  Hundreds  of 
thousands  of  dollars  every  year  leak  out  without  observation 
from  the  merchant's  till  into  the  gambling  hell.  A  man  in 
London  keeping  one  of  these  gambling  houses  boasted  that 
he  had  ruined  a  nobleman  in  a  day;  but  if  all  the  saloons  of 
this  land  were  to  speak  out,  they  might  utter  a  more  infamous 
boast,  for  they  have  destroyed  a  thousand  noblemen  a  year. 
Notice  also  the  effect  of  this  crime  upon  domestic  happiness. 
It  has  sent  its  ruthless  ploughshare  through  hundreds  of 
families,  until  the  wife  sat  in  rags,  and  the  daughters  were 
disgraced,  and  the  sons  grew  up  to  the  same  infamous  prac- 
tices, or  took  a  short  cut  to  destruction  across  the  murderer's 
scaffold.  Home  has  lost  all  charms  for  the  gambler.  How 
tame  are  the  children's  caresses  and  a  wife's  devotion  to  the 
gambler!  How  drearily  the  fire  burns  on  the  domestic 
hearth!  There  must  be  louder  laughter,  and  something  to 
win,  and  something  to  lose;  an  excitement  to  drive  the  heart 
faster,  fill  up  the  blood  and  fire  the  imagination.  No  home, 
however  bright,  can  keep  back  the  gamester.  The  sweet  call 
of  love  bounds  back  from  his  iron  soul,  and  all  endearments 
are  consumed  in  the  fire  of  his  passion.  The  family  Bible 
will  go  after  all  other  treasures  are  lost,  and  if  his  crown  iri 
heaven  were  put  into  his  hand  he  would  cry:  "Here  goes 
one  more  game,  my  boys.  On  this  one  throw  I  stake  my 
:rown  of  heaven." 

An  only  son  went  to  New  Orleans.  He  was  rich,  intel- 
lectual and  elegant  in  manners.  His  parents  gave  him,  on 
his  departure  from  home,  their  last  blessing.  The  sharpers 
got  hold  of  him.    They  flattered  him.    They  lured  him  to 


GAMBLING. 


155 


the  gaming-table  and  let  him  win  almost  every  time  for  a 
good  while,  and  patted  him  on  the  back  and  said,  "First-rate 
player."  But  fully  in  their  grasp  they  fleeced  him,  and  his 
thirty  thousand  dollars  were  lost.  Last  of  all,  he  put  up  his 
watch  and  lost  that.  Then  he  began  to  think  of  his  home 
and  of  his  old  father  and  mother,  and  wrote  thus: 

"My  Beloved  Parents:  You  will  doubtless  feel  a  momen- 
tary joy  at  the  reception  of  this  letter  from  the  child  of  your 
bosom,  on  whom  you  have  lavished  all  the  favors  of  your 
declining  years.  But  should  a  feeling  of  joy  for  a  moment 
spring  up  in  your  hearts  when  you  should  have  received  this 
from  me,  cherish  it  not.  I  have  fallen  deep,  never  to  rise. 
Those  gray  hairs  that  I  should  have  honored  and  protected  1 
shall  bring  down  in  sorrow  to  the  grave.  I  will  not  curse 
my  destroyer;  but,  Oh,  may  God  avenge  the  wrongs  and 
impositions  practiced  upon  the  unwary  in  a  way  that  shall 
best  please  Him !  This,  my  dear  parents,  is  the  last  letter 
you  will  ever  receive  from  me.  I  humbly  pray  your  forgive- 
ness. It  is  my  dying  prayer.  Long  before  you  will  have 
received  this  from  me  the  cold  grave  will  have  closed  upon 
me  forever.  Life  to  me  is  insupportable.  I  can  not,  no,  I 
will  not,  suffer  the  shame  of  having  ruined  you.  Forget  and 
forgive  is  the  dying  prayer  of  your  unfortunate  son." 

The  old  father  came  to  the  post  office,  got  the  letter  and 
fell  to  the  floor.  They  thought  he  was  dead  at  first,  but 
they  brushed  back  the  white  hair  from  his  brow  and  fanned 
him.  He  had  only  fainted.  I  wish  he  had  been  dead,  for 
what  is  life  worth  to  a  father  after  his  son  is  destroyed?  When 
things  go  wrong  at  a  gaming  table  they  shout:  "Foul! 
foul!  "  Over  all  the  gaming  tables  of  the  world  I  cry  out: 
"  Foul !  foul !  Infinitely  f oul ! ' ' 

"Gift  stores"  are  abundant  throughout  the  country. 
With  a  book,  or  knife,  or  sewing-machine,  or  coat,  or  carriage, 
there  goes  a  prize.  At  these  stores  people  get  something 
thrown  in  with  their  purchase.    It  may  be  a  gold  watch,  ox 


156 


GAMBLING. 


set  of  silver,  a  ring,  or  a  farm.  Sharp  way  to  get  off  unsal- 
able goods.  It  has  filled  the  land  with  fictitious  articles, 
and  covered  up  our  population  with  brass  finger  rings,  and 
despoiled  the  moral  sense  of  the  community,  and  is  fast 
making  a  nation  of  gamblers.  The  church  of  God  has  not 
seemed  willing  to  allow  the  world  to  have  all  the  advantage 


A  CHURCH  FAIR. 


of  these  games  of  chance.  A  church  fair  opens,  and  toward 
the  close  it  is  found  that  some  of  the  more  valuable  articles 
are  unsalable.  Forthwith,  the  conductors  of  the  enterprise 
conclude  that  they  will  raffle  for  some  of  the  valuable  articles, 
and,  under  pretense  of  anxiety  to  make  their  minister  a 
present  or  please  some  popular  member  of  the  church, 
fascinating  persons  are  dispatched  through  the  room,  pencil 
in  hand  to  "  solicit  shares,"  or  perhaps  each  draws  for  his 


GAMBLING. 


157 


own  advantage,  and  scores  of  people  go  home  with  their 
trophies,  thinking  that  is  all  right,  for  Christian  ladies  did 
the  embroidery  and  Christian  men  did  the  raffling,  and  the 
proceeds  went  toward  a  new  communion  set.  But  you  may 
depend  on  it,  that  as  far  as  morality  is  concerned,  you  might 
as  well  have  won  by  the  crack  of  the  billiard  ball  or  the  turn 
of  the  dice  box.  Do  you  wonder  that  churches  built,  lighted, 
or  upholstered  by  such  processes  as  that  come  to  great  finan- 
cial and  spiritual  decrepitude?  The  devil  says:  "I  helped 
to  build  that  house  of  worship,  and  I  have  as  much  right  there 
as  you  have."  And  for  once  the  devil  is  right.  We  do  not 
read  that  they  had  a  lottery,  for  building  the  church  at 
Corinth,  or  at  Antioch,  or  for  getting  up  an  embroidered  sur- 
plice for  Saint  Paul.  All  this  I  style  ecclesiastical  gambling. 
More  than  one  man  who  is  destroyed  can  say  that  his  first 
step  on  the  wrong  road  was  when  he  won  something  at  a 
church  fair. 

The  gambling  spirit  has  not  stopped  for  any  indecency. 
There  transpired  in  Maryland  a  lottery  in  which  people  drew 
for  lots  iii  a  burying  ground !  The  modern  habit  of  writing 
about  everything  is  productive  of  immense  mischief.  The 
most  healthful  and  innocent  amusements  of  yachting  and 
base  ball  playing  have  been  the  occasion  of  putting  up  excited 
and  extravagant  wagers.  That  which  to  many  has  been 
advantageous  to  body  and  mind  has  been  to  others  the 
means  of  financial  and  moral  loss.  The  custom  is  pernicious 
in  the  extreme  where  scores  of  men  in  respectable  life  give 
themselves  up  to  betting,  now  on  this  boat,  now  on  that;  now 
on  this  ball  club,  now  on  that.  Betting,  that  once  was 
chiefly  the  accompaniment  of  the  race-course,  is  fast  becom- 
ing a  national  habit,  and  in  some  circles  any  opionion  ad- 
vanced on  finance  or  politics  is  accosted  with  the  interroga- 
tion: "  How  much  will  you  bet  on  that,  sir?  "  This  custom 
may  make  no  appeal  to  slow,  leathargic  temperaments,  but 
there  are  in  the  country  tens  of  thousands  of  quick,  nervous, 


GAMBLING. 


sanguine,  excitable  temperaments  ready  to  be  acted  upon, 
and  their  feet  will  soon  take  hold  on  death.  For  some 
months,  and  perhaps  for  years,  they  will  linger  in  the  more 
polite  and  elegant  circle  of  gamesters,  but  after  a  while  their 
pathway  will  come  to  the  final  plunge.  Finding  themselves 
in  the  rapids,  they  will  try  to  back  out,  and  hurled  over  the 
brink,  they  will  clutch  the  side  of  the  boat  until  their  finger- 
nails, blood-tipped,  will  pierce  the  wood,  and  then,  with  white 
cheek  and  agonized  stare,  and  the  horrors  of  the  lost  soul 
lifting  the  very  hair  from  the  scalp,  they  will  plunge  down 
where  no  grapplmg-hooks  can  drag  them  out. 

Young  man!  stand  back  from  all  styles  of  gambling. 
The  end  thereof  is  death.  The  ten-pin  alley  affords  the  best 
of  physical  exercise,  and  many  an  hour  have  I  passed  in 
some  such  place,  getting  physical  invigoration ;  but  many  of 
the  ten-pin  alleys  are  now  given  up  to  gambling  practices. 
Husbands,  brothers,  fathers,  enter.  Put  down  your  thou- 
sand dollars  all  in  gold  eagles!  Let  the  boy  set  up  the  pins 
at  the  other  end  of  the  alley!  Now  stand  back  and  give  the 
gamester  full  sweep !  Koll  the  first— there !  it  strikes !  and 
down  goes  his  respectability!  Try  it  again!  Koll  the  sec- 
ond— there!  it  strikes!  and  down  goes  the  last  feeling  of 
humanity !  Try  it  again.  Eoll  the  third — there !  it  strikes ! 
and  down  goes  his  soul  forever!  It  was  not  so  much  the 
pins  that  fell,  as  the  soul!  the  soul!  Fatal  ten-strike  for 
eternity ! 

I  will  sketch  the  history  of  the  gambler.  Lured  by  bad 
company  he  finds  his  way  into  a  place  where  an  honest  man 
ought  never  to  go.  He  sits  down  to  his  first  game,  but  only 
for  pastime  and  the  desire  of  being  thought  sociable.  The 
players  deal  out  the  cards.  They  unconsciously  play  into 
Satan's  hands,  who  takes  all  the  tricks  and  both  the  players' 
souls  for  trumps — he  being  a  sharper  at  any  game.  A  slight 
stake  is  put  up,  just  to  add  interest  to  the  play.  Game  after 
game  is  played.   Larger  stakes  and  stiil  larger.    They  begin 


GAMBLING. 


159 


to  move  nervously  on  their  chairs.  Their  brows  lower,  and 
eyes  flash,  until  now  they  who  win  and  they  who  lose,  fired 
alike  with  passion,  sit  with  set  jaws,  and  compressed  lips, 
and  clenched  fists,  and  eyes  like  fire-balls  that  seem  starting 
from  their  sockets  to  see  the  final  turn  before  it  comes;  if 
losing,  pale  with  envy  and  tremulous  with  unuttered  oaths 
cast  back  red-hot  upon  the  heart— or  winning,  with  hysteric 
laugh — "  ha!  ha!  I  have  it!  "  A  few  years  have  passed,  and 
he  is  only  the  wreck  of  a  man.  Seating  himself  at  the 
game,  ere  he  throws  the  first  card,  he  stakes  the  last  relic  of 
his  wife — the  marriage  ring  which  sealed  the  solemn  vows 
between  them.  The  game  is  lost,  and  staggering  back  in 
confusion  he  dreams.  The  bright  hours  of  the  past  mock 
his  agony,  and  in  his  dreams  friends  with  eyes  of  fire  and 
tongues  of  flame  circle  about  him  with  joined  hands  to  dance 
and  sing  their  orgies  with  hellish  chorus,  chanting:  "  Hail, 
brother !  "  kissing  his  clammy  forehead  until  their  loathsome 
locks  flowing  with  serpents,  crawl  into  his  bosom  and  suck 
up  his  life's  blood,  and  coiling  round  his  heart  pinch  it  with 
chills  and  shudders  unutterable. 

Take  warning !  You  are  no  stronger  than  tens  of  thou- 
sands who  have  by  this  practice  been  overthrown.  No 
young  man  in  our  cities  can  escape  being  tempted.  Beware 
of  the  first  beginning!  This  road  is  down-grade,  and  every 
instant  increases  the  momentum.  Launch  not  upon  rhis 
treacherous  sea.  Splint  hulks  strew  the  beach.  Everlast- 
ing storms  howl  up  and  down,  tossing  unwary  crafts  into 
the  hell-gate.  I  speak  of  what  I  have  seen  with  my  own 
eyes.  I  have  looked  off  into  the  abyss  and  have  seen  the 
foaming  and  the  hissing  and  the  whirling  of  the  horrid  deep 
in  which  the  mangled  victims  writhed,  one  upon  another, 
and  struggled,  strangled,  blasphemed  and  died — the  death- 
stare  of  eternal  despair  upon  their  countenances  as  the  water 
gurgled  over  them ! 

To  a  gambler's  death  bed  there  comes  no  hope.    He  will 


160 


GAMBLING. 


probably  die  alone.  His  former  associates  come  not  nigh 
his  dwelling.  When  the  hour  comes,  his  miserable  soul  will 
go  out  of  his  miserable  life  into  a  miserable  eternity.  As 
his  poor  remains  pass  the  house  where  he  was  ruined,  old 
companions  may  look  out  a  moment  and  say:  "  There  goes 
the  old  carcase — dead  at  last!  "  but  they  will  not  get  up  from 
the  table.  Let  him  down  now  into  his  grave.  Plant  no 
tree  to  cast  its  shade  there,  for  the  long  deep  eternal 
gloom  that  settles  there,  is  shadow  enough.  Plant  no  "  for- 
get-me-nots "  or  eglantines  around  the  spot,  for  flowers  were 
not  made  to  grow  on  such  a  blasted  heath.  Visit  it  not  in 
the  sunshine  for  that  would  be  mockery,  but  in  the  dismal 
night,  when  no  stars  are  out,  and  the  spirits  of  darkness 
come  down  horsed  on  the  wind,  then  visit  the  grave  of  the 
gambler. 


WILL  GOD  FORGIVE  HER? 


CHAPTER  XL 


SUICIDE. 

In  olden  time,  and  where  Christianity  had  not  interfered 
with  it,  suicide  was  considered  honorable  and  a  sign  of 
courage.  Demosthenes  poisoned  himself  when  told  that 
Alexander's  ambassador  had  demanded  the  surrender  of  the 
Athenian  orators.  Isocrates  killed  himself  rather  than 
surrender  to  Philip  of  Macedon.  Cato,  rather  than  submit  to 
Julius  Caesar,  took  his  own  life,  and  after  three  times  his 
wounds  had  been  dressed  tore  them  open  and  perished. 
Mithridates  killed  himself  rather  than  submit  to  Pompey,  the 
conqueror.  Hannibal  destroyed  his  life  by  poison  from  his 
ring,  considering  life  unbearable.  Lycurgus  a  suicide,  Brutus 
a  suicide.  After  the  disaster  of  Moscow,  Napoleon  always 
carried  with  him  a  preparation  of  opium,  and  one  night  his 
servant  heard  the  ex-emperor  arise,  put  something  in  a  glass 
and  drink  it,  and  soon  after  the  groans  aroused  all  the 
attendants,  and  it  was  only  through  utmost  medical  skill  he 
was  resuscitated  from  the  stupor  of  the  opiate. 

Times  have  changed,  and  yet  the  American  conscience 
needs  to  be  toned  up  on  the  subject  of  suicide.  Have  you 
seen  a  paper  lately  that  did  not  announce  the  passage  out  of 
life  by  one's  own  behest?  Defaulters,  alarmed  at  the  idea  of 
exposure,  quit  life  precipitately.  Men  losing  large  fortunes 
go  out  of  the  world  because  they  cannot  endure  earthly 
existence.  Frustrated  affection,  domestic  infelicity,  dyspeptic 
impatience,  anger,  remorse,  envy,  jealousy,  destitution,  misan- 
thropy are  considered  sufficient  causes  for  absconding  from 
this  life  by  Paris  green,  by  laudanum,  by  belladonna,  by 
Othello's  dagger,  by  halter,  by  leap  from  the  abutment  of  a 

(163) 


164 


SUICIDE , 


bridge,  by  fire-arms.  More  cases  of  jelo  de  se  in  the  last  two 
years  than  any  two  years  of  the  world's  existence,  and  more 
in  the  last  month  than  in  any  twelve  months.  The  evil  is 
more  and  more  spreading. 

A  pulpit  not  long  ago  expressed  some  doubt  as  to  whether 
there  was  really  anything  wrong  about  quitting  this  life  when 
it  became  disagreeable,  and  there  are  found  in  respectable 
circles  people  apologetic  for  the  crime  which  I  hope  to  show 
is  the  worst  of  all  crimes,  and  I  shall  lift  a  warning  unmis- 
takable. But  I  wish  to  admit  that  some  of  the  best 
Christians  that  have  ever  lived  have  committed  self- 
destruction,  but  always  in  dementia,  and  not  responsible. 
I  have  no  more  doubt  about  their  eternal  felicity  than  I 
have  of  the  Christian  who  dies  in  his  bed  in  the  delirium 
of  typhoid  fever.  While  the  shock  of  the  catastrophe  is 
very  great,  I  charge  all  those  who  have  had  Christian  friends 
under  cerebral  aberration  step  off  the  boundaries  of  this  life 
to  have  no  doubt  about  their  happiness.  The  dear  Lord  took 
them  right  out  of  their  dazed  and  frenzied  state  into  perfect 
safety.  How  Christ  feels  toward  the  insane  you  may  know 
from  the  kind  way  He  treated  the  demoniac  of  Gadara  and 
the  child  lunatic,  and  the  potency  with  which  he  hushed  the 
tempests  either  of  sea  or  brain. 

Scotland,  the  land  prolific  of  intellectual  giants,  had  none 
grander  than  Hugh  Miller.  Great  for  science  and  great 
for  God.  He  came  of  the  best  Highland  blood,  and  was  a 
descendant  of  Donald  Roy,  a  man  eminent  for  piety  and  the 
rare  gift  of  second- sight.  His  attainments,  climbing  up  as  he 
did  from  the  quarry  and  the  wall  of  the  stone-mason,  drew  forth 
the  astonished  admiration  of  Buckland  and  Murchison,  the 
scientists,  and  Dr.  Chalmers,  the  theologian,  and  held  universi- 
ties spell-bound  while  he  told  them  the  story  of  what  he  had 
seen  of  God  in  the  old  red  sandstone.  That  man  did  more 
than  any  being  that  ever  lived  to  show  that  the  God  of  the 
lills  is  the  God  of  the  Bible,  and  he  struck  his  tuning-fork  on 


SUICIDE. 


165 


the  rocks  of  Cromarty  until  he  brought  geology  and  theology 
accordant  in  divine  worship.  His  two  books,  entitled  "  Foot- 
prints of  the  Creator  "  and  the  "  Testimony  of  the  Eocks  ,; 
proclaimed  the  banns  of  an  everlasting  marriage  between 
genuine  and  science  and  revelation.  On  this  latter  book  he 
toiled  day  and  night  through  love  of  nature  and  love  of  God. 
until  he  could  not  sleep,  and  his  brain  gave  way,  and  he  was 
found  dead  with  a  revolver  by  his  side,  the  cruel  instrument 
having  had  two  bullets — one  for  him  and  the  other  for  the 
gunsmith  who  for  the  coroner's  inquest  was  examining  it  and 
fell  dead.  Have  you  any  doubt  of  the  beatification  of  Hugh 
Miller,  after  his  hot  brain  had  ceased  throbbing  that  winter 
night  in  his  study  at  Portobello?  Among  the  mightiest  of 
earth,  among  the  mightiest  of  heaven. 

While  we  make  this  merciful  and  righteous  allowance  in 
regard  to  those  who  were  plunged  into  mental  incoherence,  I 
declare  that  that  man  who  in  the  use  of  his  reason,  by  his 
own  act,  snaps  the  bond  between  his  body  and  his  soul  goes 
straight  into  perdition.  Shall  I  prove  it?  Eevelation  21:8: 
"  Murderers  shall  have  their  part  in  the  lake  which  burnetii 
with  fire  and  brimstone."  Eevelation  22 : 15 :  "  Without  are 
dogs,  and  sorcerers,  and  whoremongers,  and  murderers." 
You  do  not  believe  the  New  Testament?  Then,  perhaps,  you 
believe  the  Ten  Commandments:  "  Thou  shalt  not  kill."  Do 
you  say  all  these  passages  refer  to  the  taking  of  the  life  of 
others?  Then  I  ask  you  if  you  are  not  as  responsible  for 
your  own  life  as  for  the  life  of  others?  God  gave  you  a 
special  trust  in  your  life.  He  made  you  the  custodian  of 
your  life  as  He  made  you  the  custodian  of  no  other  life.  He 
gave  you  as  weapons  with  which  to  defend  it  two  arms  to 
strike  back  assailants,  two  eyes  to  watch  for  invasion,  and  a 
natural  love  of  life  which  ought  ever  to  be  on  the  alert. 
Assassination  of  others  is  a  mild  crime  compared  with  the 
assassination  of  yourself,  because  in  the  latter  case  it  is 
treachery  to  an  especial  trust,  it  is  the  surrender  of  a  castle 


166 


SUICIDE. 


you  were  especially  appointed  to  keep,  it  is  treason  to  a 
natural  law  and  it  is  treason  to  God  added  to  ordinary 
murder. 

Notwithstanding  the  Bible  is  against  this  evil,  and  the 
aversion  which  it  creates  by  the  loathsome  and  ghastly 
spectacle  of  those  who  have  hurled  themselves  out  of  life, 
and  notwithstanding  Christianity  is  against  it,  and  the  argu- 
ments and  the  useful  lives  and  the  illustrious  deaths  of  its 
disciples,  it  is  a  fact  alarmingly  patent  that  suicide  is  on  the 
increase.  What  is  the  cause?  I  charge  upon  Infidelity  and 
Agnosticism  this  whole  thing.  If  there  be  no  hereafter,  or  if 
that  hereafter  be  blissful  without  reference  to  how  we  live  and 
how  we  die,  why  not  move  back  the  folding  doors  between  this 
world  and  the  next?  And  when  our  existence  here  becomes 
troublesome,  why  not  pass  right  over  into  Elysium?  Put  this 
down  among  your  most  solemn  reflections,  and  consider  it; 
there  has  never  been  a  case  of  suicide  where  the  operator 
was  not  either  demented,  and  therefore  irresponsible,  or  an 
infidel.  I  challenge  all  the  ages,  and  I  challenge  the  whole 
universe.  There  never  has  been  a  case  of  self-destruction 
while  in  full  appreciation  of  his  immortality  and  of  the  fact 
that  that  immortality  would  be  glorious  or  wretched  according 
as  he  accepted  Jesus  Christ  or  rejected  Him. 

You  say  it  is  business  trouble,  or  you  say  it  is  electrical 
currents,  or  it  is  this,  or  it  is  that,  or  it  is  the  other  thing. 
Why  not  go  clear  back,  my  friend,  and  acknowledge  that  in 
every  case  it  is  the  abdication  of  reason  or  the  teaching  of 
infidelity,  which  practically  says,  "  If  you  don't  like  this  life 
get  out  of  it,  and  you  will  land  either  in  annihilation,  where 
there  are  no  notes  to  pay,  no  persecutions  to  suffer,  no  gout 
to  torment,  or  you  will  land  where  there  will  be  everything 
glorious  and  nothing  to  pay  for  it.  Infidelity  always  has 
been  apologetic  for  self-immolation.  After  Tom  Paines's 
"Age  of  Eeason  "  was  published  and  widely  read  there  was  a 
marked  increase  of  self-slaughter.    A  man  in  London  heard 


SUICIDE. 


167 


Mr.  Owen  deliver  his  infidel  lecture  on  Socialism,  and  went 
home,  sat  down,  and  wrote  these  words:  " Jesus  Christ  is 
one  of  the  weakest  characters  in  history,  and  the  Bible  is  the 
greatest  possible  deception,"  and  then  shot  himself.  David 
Hume  wrote  these  words:  "  It  would  be  no  crime  for  me  to 
divert  the  Nile  or  the  Danube  from  its  natural  bed.  Where, 
then,  can  be  the  crime  in  my  diverting  a  few  drops  of  blood 
from  their  ordinary  channel? "  And  having  written  the 
essay  he  loaned  it  to  a  friend;  the  friend  read  it,  wrote  a 
letter  of  thanks  and  admiration,  and  shot  himself. 

Eousseau,  Voltaire,  Gibbon,  Montaigne,  under  certain 
circumstances,  were  apologetic  for  self-immolation.  Infidelity 
puts  up  no  bar  to  people's  rushing  out  from  this  world  into 
the  next.  They  teach  us  it  does  not  make  any  difference  how 
you  live  here  or  go  out  of  this  world,  you  will  land  either  in 
an  oblivious  nowhere  or  a  glorious  somewhere.  And  Infidelity 
holds  the  upper  end  of  the  rope  for  the  suicide,  and  aims  the 
pistol  with  which  a  man  blows  his  brams  out,  and  mixes  the 
strychnine  for  the  last  swallow.  If  Infidelity  could  carry  the 
day  and  persuade  the  majority  of  people  in  this  country  that 
it  does  not  make  any  difference  how  you  go  out  of  the  world 
you  will  land  safely,  the  rivers  would  be  so  full  of  corpses  the 
ferry-boats  would  be  impeded  in  their  progress,  and  the  crack 
of  a  suicide's  pistol  would  be  no  more  alarming  than  the 
rumble  of  a  street  car. 

I  have  sometimes  heard  it  discused  whether  the  great 
dramatist  was  a  Christian  or  not.  I  do  not  know,  but  I  know 
that  he  considered  appreciation  of  a  future  existence  the 
mightiest  hindrance  to  self-destruction: 

For  who  could  bear  the  whips  and  scorns  of  time, 

The  oppressor's  wrong,  the  proud  man's  contumely, 

The  pangs  of  despis'd  love,  the  law's  delay, 

The  insolence  of  office,  and  the  spurns 

That  patient  merit  of  the  unworthy  takes, 

When  he  himself  might  his  quietus  make 

With  a  bare  bodkin?  Who  would  fardels  bear, 


168 


SUICIDE. 


To  grunt  and  sweat  under  a  weary  life, 
But  that  the  dread  of  something  after  death — 
The  undiscovered  country,  from  whose  bourne 
No  traveller  returns — puzzles  the  will. 


ONE  MO  EE  UNFORTUNATE. 


Would  God  that  the  coroners  would  be  brave  in  rendering 
the  right  verdict,  and  when  in  a  case  of  irresponsibility  they 
say,  "While  this  man  was  demented  he  took  his  life;"  in 
the  other  case  say,  "  Having  read  infidel  books  and  attended 
infidel  lectures,  which  obliterated  from  this  man's  mind  all 
appreciation  of  anything  like  future  retribution,  he  committed 
self -slaughter!  "  Ah!  Infidelity,  stand  up  and  take  thy  sen- 
tence !  In  the  presence  of  God  and  angels  and  men,  stand 
up,  thou  monster,  thy  lip  blasted  with  blasphemy,  thy  cheek 
scarred  with  lust,  thy  breath  foul  with  the  corruption  of  the 


SUICIDE. 


169 


ages!  Stand  up,  Satyr,  filthy  goat,  buzzard  of  the  nations, 
leper  of  the  centuries!  Stand  up,  thou  monster  Infidelity ! 
Part  man,  part  panther,  part  reptile,  part  dragon,  stand  up 
and  take  thy  sentence !  Thy  hands  red  with  the  blood  in 
which  thou  hast  washed,  thy  feet  crimson  with  the  human 
gore  through  which  thou  hast  waded,  stand  up  and  take  thy 
Ben  ten  eel  Down  with  thee  to  the  pit  and  sup  on  the  sobs 
and  groans  of  families  thou  hast  blasted,  and  roll  on  the  bed 
of  k uives  which  thou  has  sharpened  for  others,  and  let  thy 
music  be  the  everlasting  miserere  of  those  whom  thou  hast 
damned!  I  brand  the  forehead  of  Infidelity  with  all  the 
crimes  of  self-immolation  for  the  last  century  on  the  part  of 
those  who  had  their  reason. 

If  ever  your  life  through  its  abrasions  and  its  molestations 
should  seem  to  be  unbearable  and  you  are  tempted  to  quit 
it  by  your  own  behest,  do  not  consider  yourselves  as  worse 
than  others.  Christ  Himself  was  tempted  to  cast  Himself 
from  the  roof  of  the  temple;  but  as  He  resisted,  so  resist  ye. 
Christ  came  to  medicine  all  our  wounds.  In  your  trouble  I 
prescribe  life  instead  of  death.  People  who  have  had  it  worse 
than  you  will  ever  have  it  have  gone  songful  on  the  way. 
Eemember  that  God  keeps  the  chronology  of  your  life  with  as 
much  precision  as  He  keeps  the  chronology  of  nations,  your 
death  as  well  as  your  birth,  your  grave  as  well  as  your 
cradle. 

Why  was  it  that  at  midnight,  just  at  midnight,  the  de- 
stroying angel  struck  the  blow  that  set  the  Israelites  free 
from  bondage?  The  four  hundred  and  thirty  years  were 
up  at  twelve  o'clock  that  night.  The  four  hundred  and 
thirty  years  were  not  up  at  eleven  and  one  o'clock  would 
have  been  to  tardy  and  too  late.  The  four  hundred  and 
thirty  years  were  up  at  twelve  o'clock,  and  the  destroying 
angel  struck  the  blow,  and  Israel  was  free.  And  God  knows 
just  the  hour  when  it  is  time  to  lead  you  up  from  earthly 
bondage.    By  His  grace  make  not  the  worst  of  things,  but 


170 


SUICIDE. 


the  best  of  them.  If  you  must  take  the  pills,  do  not  chew 
them.  Your  everlasting  rewards  will  accord  with  your 
earthly  perturbations,  just  as  Caius  gave  to  Agrippa  a  chain 
of  gold  as  heavy  as  had  been  his  chain  of  iron. 

Eemember  that  this  brief  life  of  ours  is  surrounded  by  a 
rim,  a  very  thin  but  very  important  rim,  and  close  up  to  that 
rim  is  a  great  eternity,  and  you  had  better  keep  out  of  it  until 
God  breaks  that  rim  and  separates  this  from  that.  To  get 
rid  of  the  sorrows  of  earth,  do  not  rush  into  greater  sorrows. 
To  get  rid  of  a  swarm  of  summer  insects,  leap  not  into  a 
jungle  of  Bengal  tigers. 

There  is  a  sorrowless  world,  and  it  is  so  radiant  that  the 
noonday  sun  is  only  the  lowest  doorstep  and  the  aurora  that 
lights  up  our  northern  heavens,  confounding  astronomers  as 
to  what  it  can  be,  is  the  waving  of  the  banners  of  the  pro- 
cession come  to  take  the  conquerors  home  from  church 
militant  to  church  triumphant,  and  you  and  I  have  ten 
thousand  reasons  for  wanting  to  go  there,  but  we  will  never 
get  there  either  by  self-immolation  or  impenitency.  All  our 
sins  slain  by  the  Christ  who  came  to  do  that  thing,  we  want 
to  go  in  at  just  the  time  divinely  arranged,  and  from  a  couch 
divinely  spread,  and  then  the  clang  of  the  sepulchral  gates 
behind  us  will  be  overpowered  by  the  clang  of  the  opening  of 
the  solid  pearl  before  us.  0  God,  whatever  others  may 
choose,  give  me  a  Christian's  life,  a  Christian's  death,  a 
Christian's  burial,  a  Christian's  immortality! 


GOOD  BOOKS 
After  C.  Kiep*» 


CHAPTER  XII. 


IMMORAL  LITERATURE. 

Paul  stirred  up  Ephesus  with  some  lively  sermons  about 
the  sins  of  that  place.  Among  the  most  important  results 
was  the  fact  that  the  citizens  brought  out  their  bad  books  and 
in  a  public  place  made  a  bonfire  of  them.  I  see  the  people 
coming  out  with  their  arms  full  of  Ephesian  literature,  and 
tossing  it  into  the  flames.  I  hear  an  economist  standing  by 
and  saying :  "  Stop  this  waste.  Here  are  seven  thousand  and 
five  hundred  dollars  worth  of  books — do  you  propose  to  burn 
them  9,11  up?  If  you  don't  want  to  read  them  yourself,  sell 
them  and  let  somebody  else  read  them."  "  No,"  said  the 
people,  "  if  these  books  are  not  good  for  us,  they  are  not  good 
for  anybody  else  and  we  shall  stand  and  watch  until  the  last 
leaf  has  turned  to  ashes.  They  have  done  us  a  world  of  harm, 
and  they  shall  never  do  others  harm.  One  of  the  wants 
of  the  cities  of  this  country  is  a  great  bdnfire  of  bad  books 
and  newspapers.  We  have  enough  fuel  to  make  a  blaze 
two  hundred  feet  high.  Many  of  the  publishing  houses 
would  do  well  to  throw  into  the  blaze  their  entire  stock 
of  goods.  Bring  forth  the  insufferable  trash  and  put  it  into 
the  fire,  and  >et  it  be  known  in  the  presence  of  God,  and 
angels  and  men,  that  you  are  going  to  rid  your  homes  of  the 
overtopping  and  underlying  curse  of  profligate  literature. 

The  printing  press  is  the  mightiest  agency  on  earth  for 
good  and  for  evil.  The  minister  of  the  Gospel,  standing  in 
a  pulpit  has  a  responsible  position ;  but  I  do  not  think  it  is 
as  responsible  as  the  position  of  an  editor  or  a  publisher.  At 
what  distant  point  of  time,  at  what  far  out  cycle  of  eternity, 
will  cease  the  influence  of  a  Henry  J.  Eaymond,  or  a  Horace 

(171) 


172 


IMMORAL  LITERATURE. 


Greeley,  or  a  James  Gordon  Bennett,  or  a  Watson  Webb,  or 
an  Eratus  Brooks,  or  a  Thomas  Kinsella?  Take  the  simple 
statistic  that  the  New  York  dailies  now  have  a  circulation  of 
about  eight  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  per  day,  and  add  to 
it  the  fact  that  three  of  the  weekly  periodicals  have  an 
aggregate  circulation  of  about  one  million,  and  then  cipher, 
if  you  can,  how  far  up,  and  how  far  down,  and  how  far  out, 
reach  the  influences  of  the  American  printing-press.  What 
is  to  be  the  issue  of  all  this?  I  believe  the  Lord  intends  the 
printing-press  to  be  the  chief  means  for  the  world's  rescue 
and  evangelization,  and  I  think  that  the  great  last  battle  of 
the  world  will  not  be  fought  with  swords  and  guns,  but  with 
types  and  presses — a  purified  and  gospel  literature  triumphing 
over,  trampling  down  and  crushing  out  forever  that  which  is 
depraved.  The  only  way  to  overcome  unclean  literature  is 
by  scattering  abroad  that  which  is  healthful.  May  God  speed 
the  cylinders  of  an  honest,  intelligent,  aggressive,  Christian 
printing-press.  The  greatest  blessing  that  ever  came  to  this 
nation  is  that  of  an  elevated  literature,  and  the  greatest 
scourge  has  been  that  of  unclean  literature.  This  last  has 
its  victims  in  all  occupations  and  departments.  It  has  helped 
to  fill  insane  asylums  and  penitentiaries  and  almshouses  and 
dens  of  shame.  The  bodies  of  this  infections  lie  in  the 
hospitals  and  in  the  graves,  while  their  souls  are  being  tossed 
over  into  a  lost  eternity,  an  avalanche  of  horror  and  despair. 
The  London  plague  was  nothing  to  it.  That  counted  its 
victims  by  thousands,  but  this  modern  pest  has  already 
shoveled  its  millions  into  the  charnel-house  of  the  morally 
dead.  The  longest  rail  train  that  ever  ran  over  the  Erie  or 
Hudson  tracks  was  not  long  enough  nor  large  enough  to 
carry  the  beastliness  and  the  putrefaction  which  have  been 
gathered  up  in  bad  books  and  newspapers  of  this  land  in  the 
last  twenty  years. 

Now,  it  is  amid  such  circumstances  that  I  put  a  question 
pf  overmastering  importance  to  you  and  your  families.  What 


IMMORAL  LITERATURE. 


173 


books  and  newspapers  shall  we  read?  You  see  a  group  of 
them  together.  A  newspaper  is  only  a  book  in  a  swifter  and 
more  portable  shape,  and  the  same  rules  which  will  apply 
to  book  reading  will  apply,  to  newspaper  reading.  What  shall 
we  read?  Shall  our  minds  be  the  receptacle  of  everything 
that  an  author  has  a  mind  to  write?  Shall  there  be  no 
distinction  between  the  tree  of  a  life  and  the  tree  of  death? 
Shall  we  stoop  down  and  drink  out  of  the  trough  which  the 
wickedness  of  men  has  filled  with  pullution  and  shame? 
Shall  we  mire  in  impurity  and  chase  fantastic  will-o'-the- 
wisps  across  the  swamps,  when  we  might  walk  in  the  bloom- 
ing gardens  of  God?  0  no!  For  the  sake  of  our  present  and 
everlasting  welfare  we  must  make  an  intelligent  and  Christian 
choice.  Standing,  as  we  do,  chin  deep  in  fictitious  literature, 
the  first  question  that  many  of  the  young  people  are  asking 
me  is:  "  Shall  we  read  novels?  "  I  reply:  There  are  novels 
that  are  pure,  good,  Christian,  elevating  to  the  heart  and 
ennobling  to  the  life.  But  I  have  still  further  to  say  that  I 
believe  that  ninety-nine 
out  of  the  hundred  novels 
in  this  day  are  baleful  and 
destructive  to  the  last  de- 
gree. A  pure  work  of  fic- 
tion is  history  and  poetry 
combined.  It  is  a  history 
of  things  around  us,  with 
the  licenses  and  the  as- 
sumed names  of  poetry. 
The  world  can  never  pay 
the  debt  which  it  owes  to 
such  fictitious  writers  as 
Hawthorne  and  McKen- 
zie,  and  Lander  and  Hunt, 
and  Arthur  and  Marion 
Harland,  and  others  whose  names  are  familiar  to  all.  The 
follies  of  high  life  were  never  better  exposed  than  by  Miss 


NATHANIEL  HAWTHORNE. 


174 


IMMORAL  LITERATURE. 


Edgeworth.  The  memories  of  the  past  were  never  more 
faithfully  embalmed  than  in  the  writings  of  Walter  Scott. 
Cooper's  novels  are  healthfully  redolent  with  the  breath  of 
the  sea-weed,  and  the  air  of  the  American  forest.  Charles 
Kingsley  has  smitten  the  morbidity  of  the  world,  and  led  a 
great  many  to  appreciate  the  poetry  of  sound  health,  strong 
muscles,  and  fresh  air.    Thackeray  did  a  grand  work  in  car- 


impure  literature  that  has  come  upon  this  country  in  the 
shape  of  novels,  like  a  freshet  overflowing  all  the  banks  of 
decency  and  common  sense!  They  are  coming  from  some 
of  the  most  celebrated  publishing  houses  of  the  country. 
They  are  coming  with  recommendation  of  some  of  our  relig- 
ious newspapers.  They  lie  on  your  center  table  to  curse 
your  children,  and  blast  with  their  infernal  fires  generations 
unborn.  You  find  these  books  in  the  desk  of  the  school  miss, 
in  the  trunk  of  the  young  man,  in  the  steamboat  cabin,  on 
the  table  of  the  hotel  reception  room.  You  see  a  light  in 
your  child's  room  late  at  night.  You  suddenly  go  in  and 
and  say:  "What  are  you  doing?"  "  I  am  reading."  "  What 
are  you  reading?  "  "A  book."  You  look  at  the  book;  it  is 
a  bad  book.  "Where  did  you  get  it?"  "I  borrowed  it." 
Alas,  there  are  always  those  abroad  who  would  like  to  loan 


icaturing  the  pretenders  to 
gentility  and  high  blood. 
Dickens  has  built  his  own 
monument  in  his  books, 
which  are  an  everlasting 
plea  for  the  poor,  and  the  an- 
athema of  injustice. 


CHARLES  DICKENS. 


Now,  I  say,  books  like 
these,  read  at  right  times, 
and  read  in  right  proportion 
with  other  books,  can  not 
help  but  be  ennobling  and 
purifying;  but  alas  for  the 


IMMORAL  LITERATURE. 


175 


your  son  or  daughter  a  bad  book.  Everywhere,  everywhere 
an  unclean  literature.  I  charge  upon  it  the  destruction  of 
ten  thousand  immortal  souls,  and  I  bid  you  wake  up  to  the 
magnitude  of  the  theme.  I  shall  take  all  the  world's  litera- 
ture— good  novels  and  bad,  travels  true  and  false,  histories 
faithful  and  incorrect,  legends  beautiful  and  monstrous,  all 
tracts,  all  chronicles,  all  epilogues,  all  family,  city,  State  and 
national  libraries — and  pile  them  up  in  a  pyramid  of  litera- 
ture, and  then  I  shall  bring  to  bear  upon  it  some  grand, 
glorious,  infallible,  unmistakable  Christian  principles.  God 
help  me  to  write  with  reference  to  my  last  account.  I  charge 
you,  in  the  first  place,  to  stand  aloof  from  all  books  that 
give  false  pictures  of  human  life.  Life  is  neither  a  tragedy 
nor  a  farce.  Men  are  not  all  either  knaves  nor  heroes. 
Women  are  neither  angels  nor  furies.  And  yet,  if  you 
depended  upon  much  of  the  literature  of  the  day,  you  would 
get  the  idea  that  life,  instead  of  being  something  earnest, 
something  practical,  is  a  fitful  and  fantastic  and  extravagant 
thing.  How  poorly  prepared  are  that  young  man  and  woman 
for  the  duties  of  to-day  who  spent  last  night  wading  through 
brilliant  passages  descriptive  of  magnificent  knavery  and 
wickedness !  The  man  will  be  looking  all  day  long  for  his 
heroine,  in  the  tin-shop,  by  the  forge,  in  the  factory,  in  the 
counting-room,  and  he  will  not  find  her,  and  he  will  be  dis- 
satisfied. A  man  who  gives  himself  up  to  the  indiscriminate 
reading  of  novels  will  be  nerveless,  inane,  and  a  nuisance. 
He  will  be  fit  neither  for  the  store,  nor  the  shop,  nor  the 
field.  A  woman  who  gives  herself  up  to  the  indiscriminate 
reading  of  novels  will  be  unfitted  for  the  duties  of  wife, 
mother,  sister,  daughter.  There  she  is,  hair  disheveled, 
countenance  vacant,  cheeks  pale,  hands  trembling,  bursting 
into  tears  at  midnight  over  the  fate  of  some  unfortunate  lover ; 
in  the  day  time,  when  she  ought  to  be  busy,  staring  by  the 
half  hour  at  nothing;  biting  her  finger  nails  into  the  quick. 
The  carpet  that  was  plain  before  will  be  plainer  after  having 


176 


IMMORAL  LITERATURE. 


wandered  through  a  romance  all  night  long  in  tesselated 
halls  of  castles.  And  your  industrious  companion  will  be 
more  unattractive  than  ever  now  that  you  have  walked  in  the 
romance  through  parks  with  plumed  princesses,  or  lounged 
in  the  arbor  with  the  polished  desperado.  0,  these  confirmed 
novel  readers!  They  are  unfitted  for  this  life,  which  is  a 
tremendous  discipline.  They  know  not  how  to  go  through 
the  furnaces  of  trial  through  which  they  must  pass,  and  they 
are  unfitted  for  a  world  where  everything  we  gain  we  achieve 
by  hard,  long-continuing  and  exhaustive  work. 

Again,  abstain  from  all  those  books  which,  while  they 
have  some  good  things  about  them,  have  also  an  admixture 
of  evil.  You  have  read  books  that  had  two  elements  in 
them — the  good  and  the  bad.  Which  stuck  to  you?  The 
bad!  The  heart  of  most  people  is  like  a  sieve,  which  lets 
the  small  particles  of  gold  fall  through,  but  keeps  the  great 
cinders.  Once  in  awhile  there  is  a  mind  like  a  loadstone, 
which,  plunged  amid  steel  and  brass  filings,  gathers  up  the 
steel  and  repels  the  brass.  But  it  is  generally  just  the  oppo- 
site. If  you  attempt  to  plunge  through  a  fence  of  burrs  to 
get  one  blackberry,  you  will  get  more  burrs  than  blackberries. 
You  can  not  afford  to  read  a  bad  book,  however  good  you  are. 
You  say :  "  The  influence  is  insignificant. "  I  tell  you  that  the 
scratch  of  a  pin  has  sometimes  produced  the  lock-jaw.  Alas, 
if  through  curiosity,  as  many  do,  you  pry  into  an  evil  book, 
your  curiosity  is  as  dangerous  as  that  of  the  man  who  would 
take  a  torch  into  a  gunpowder  mill  merely  to  see  whether  it 
would  really  blow  up  or  not. 

In  a  menagerie,  a  man  put  his  arm  through  the  bars  of  a 
black  leopard's  cage.  The  animal's  hide  looked  so  sleek, 
and  bright  and  beautiful.  He  just  stroked  it  once.  The 
monster  seized  him,  and  he  drew  forth  a  hand  torn,  and 
mangled,  and  bleeding.  0,  touch  not  evil  even  with  the 
faintest  stroke!  Though  it  may  be  glossy  and  beautiful, 
touch  it  not,  lest  you  pull  forth  your  soul  torn  and  bleeding 


IMMORAL  LITERATURE. 


177 


under  the  clutch  of  the  black  leopard.  "  But,"  you  say,  "  how 
can  I  find  out  whether  a  book  is  good  or  bad  without  reading 
it?"  There  is  always  something  suspicious  about  a  bad 
book.  I  never  knew  an  exception — something  suspicious  in 
the  index  or  style  of  illustration.  This  venomous  reptile 
almost  always  carries  a  warning  rattle.  I  charge  you  to 
stand  off  from  all  those  books  which  corrupt  the  imagination 
and  inflame  the  passions.  I  do  not  refer  now  to  that  kind 
of  a  book  which  the  villain  has  under  his  coat  waiting  for 
the  school  to  get  out,  and  then,  looking  both  ways  to  see 
that  there  is  no  policeman  around  the  block,  offers  the  book 
to  your  son  on  his  way  home.  I  do  not  speak  of  that  kind 
of  literature,  but  that  which  evades  the  law  and  comes  out 
in  polished  style,  and  with  acute  plot  sounds  the  tocsin  that 
rouses  up  all  the  baser  passions  of  the  soul.  To-day,  under 
the  nostrils  of  this  land,  there  is  a  fetid,  reeking,  unwashed 
literature,  enough  to  poison  all  the  fountains  of  public  virtue, 
and  smite  your  sons  and  daughters  as  with  the  wing  of  a 
destroying  angel,  and  it  is  time  that  the  ministers  of  the 
gospel  blew  the  trumpet  and  rallied  the  forces  of  righteous- 
ness, all  armed  to  the  teeth,  in  this  great  battle  against  a 
depraved  literature.  Again,  abstain  from  those  books  which 
are  apologetic  of  crime.  It  is  a  sad  thing  that  some  of  the 
best  and  most  beautiful  book-binderies,  and  some  of  the 
finest  rhetoric,  have  been  brought  to  make  sin  attractive. 
Vice  is  a  horrible  thing,  anyhow.  It  is  born  in  shame,  and 
dies  howling  in  the  darkness.  In  this  world  it  is  scourged 
with  a  whip  of  scorpions,  but  afterwards  the  thunders  of 
God's  wrath  pursue  it  across  a  boundless  desert,  beating  it 
with  ruin  and  woe.  When  you  come  to  paint  carnality,  do 
not  paint  it  as  looking  from  behind  embroidered  curtains,  or 
through  lattice  of  royal  seraglio,  but  as  writhing  in  the 
agonies  of  a  city  hospital. 

Cursed  be  the  books  that  try  to  make  impurity  decent, 
and  crime  attractive,  and  hypocrisy  noble!    Cursed  be  the 


178 


IMMORAL  LITERATURE. 


books  that  swarm  with  libertines  and  desperadoes,  who  make 
the  brain  of  the  young  people  whirl  with  villainy.  Ye 
authors  who  write  them,  ye  publishers  who  print  them,  ye 
booksellers  who  distribute  them,  shall  be  cut  to  pieces,  if  not 
by  an  aroused  community,  then,  at  last,  by  the  hail  of  divine 
vengeance,  which  shall  sweep  to  the  lowest  pit  of  perdition 
all  ye  murderers  of  souls.  I  tell  you,  though  you  may  escape 
in  this  world,  you  will  be  ground  at  last  under  the  hoof  of 
eternal  calamities,,  and  you  will  be  chained  to  the  rock,  and 
you  will  have  the  vultures  of  despair  clawing  at  your  soul, 
and  those  whom  you  have  destroyed  will  come  around  to 
torment  you,  and  to  pour  hotter  coals  of  fury  upon  your  head, 
and  rejoice  eternally  in  the  outcry  of  your  pain  and  the  howl 
of  your  damnation. 

The  clock  strikes  midnight.  A  fair  form  bends  over  a 
romance.  The  eyes  flash  fire.  The  breath  is  quick  and 
irregular.  Occasionally  the  color  dashes  to  the  cheek,  and 
then  dies  out.  The  hands  tremble  as  though  a  guardian 
spirit  were  trying  to  shake  the  deadly  book  out  of  the  grasp. 
Hot  tears  fall.  She  laughs  with  a  shrill  voice  that  drops  dead 
at  its  own  sound.  The  sweat  on  her  brow  is  the  spray  dashed 
up  from  the  river  of  death.  The  clock  strikes  four,  and  the 
rosy  dawn  soon  after  begins  to  look  through  the  lattice  upon 
the  pale  form  that  looks  like  a  detained  specter  of  the  night. 
Soon  in  a  mad-house  she  will  mistake  her  ringlets  for  curling 
serpents,  and  thrust  her  white  hand  through  the  bars  of  the 
prison,  and  smite  her  head,  rubbing  it  back  as  though  to  push 
the  scalp  from  the  skull,  shrieking:  " My  brain!  my  brain!" 
Oh,  standoff  from  that!  Why  will  you  go  sounding  your 
way  amid  the  reefs  and  warning  buoys,  when  there  is  such  a 
vast  ocean  in  which  you  may  voyage,  all  sail  set? 

I  consider  the  lascivious  pictorial  literature  of  the  day  as 
most  tremendous  for  ruin.  There  is  no  one  who  can  like 
good  pictures  better  than  I  do.  The  quickest  and  most  con- 
densed way  of  impressing  the  public  mind  is  by  pictures. 


IMMORAL  LITERATURE. 


179 


What  the  painter  does  by  his  brush  for  a  few  favorites  the 
engraver  does  by  his  knife  for  the  million.  What  the  author 
accomplishes  by  fifty  pages  the  artist  does  by  a  flash.  The 
best  part  of  a  painting  that  costs  ten  thousand  dollars  you  may 
buy  for  ten  cents.  Fine  paintings  belong  to  the  aristocracy  of 
art.  Engravings  belong  to  the  democracy  of  art.  You  do  well 
to  gather  good  pictures  in  your  homes.  Spread  them  before 
your  children  after  the  tea  hour  is  past  and  the  evening  circle 
is  gathered.  Throw  them  on  the  invalid's  couch.  Strew 
them  through  the  rail  train  to  cheer  the  traveler  on  his 
journey.  Tack  them  on  the  wall  of  the  nursery.  Gather 
them  in  albums  and  portfolios.  God  speed  the  good  pictures 
on  their  way  with  ministries  of  knowledge  and  mercy.  But 
what  shall  I  say  of  the  prostitution  of  this  art  to  purposes 
of  iniquity?  These  death-warrants  of  the  soul  are  at  every 
street  corner.  They  smite  the  vision  of  the  young  man  with 
pollution.  Many  a  young  man  buying  a  copy  has  bought  his 
eternal  discomfiture.  There  may  be  enough  poison  in  one 
bad  picture  to  poison  one  soul,  and  that  soul  may  poison  ten, 
and  ten  fifty,  and  the  fifty  hundreds,  and  the  hundreds  thou- 
sands, until  nothing  but  the  measuring  line  of  eternity  can 
tell  the  height,  and  depth,  and  ghastilness,  and  horror  of  the 
great  undoing.  The  work  of  death  that  the  wicked  author 
does  in  a  whole  book  the  bad  engraver  may  do  on  a  half  side 
of  a  pictorial.  Under  the  guise  of  pure  mirth  the  young  man 
buys  one  of  these  sheets.  He  unrolls  it  before  his  comrades 
amid  roars  of  laughter,  but  long  after  the  paper  is  gone  the 
result  may  perhaps  be  seen  in  the  blasted  imagination  of 
those  who  saw  it.  The  queen  of  death  holds  a  banquet 
every  night,  and  these  periodicals  are  the  printed  invitations 
to  her  guests.  Alas,  that  the  fair  brow  of  American  art 
should  be  blotched  with  this  plague  spot,  and  that  philan- 
thropists, bothering  themselves  about  smaller  evils,  should 
lift  up  no  united  and  vehement  voice  against  this  great 
calamity.    Young  man,  buy  not  this  moral  strychnine  for 


180 


IMMORAL  LITERATURE. 


your  soul.  Pick  not  up  this  nest  of  coiled  adders  for  your 
pocket.  Patronize  no  news-stand  that  keeps  them.  Have 
your  room  bright  with  good  engravings,  but  for  these  out- 
rageous pictorials  have  not  one  wall,  not  one  bureau,  not  one 
pocket.  A  man  is  no  better  than  the  pictures  he  loves  to  look 
at.  If  your  eyes  are  not  pure  your  heart  can  not  be.  At  a 
news-stand  one  can  guess  the  character  of  a  man  by  the  kind 
of  pictorial  he  purchases.  When  the  devil  fails  to  get  a  man 
to  read  a  bad  book,  he  sometimes  succeeds  in  getting  him  to 

look  at  a  bad  picture. 
When  Satan  goes  a- 
fishing  he  does  not  care 
whether  it  is  a  long  line 
or  a  short  line,  if  he 
only  draws  his  victim 
in.  Beware  of  lascivi- 
ous pictorials,  young 
man,  in  the  name  of 
Almighty  God  I  charge 
you. 

If  I  have  success- 
fully laid  down  any 
principles  by  which  you 
may  judge  in  regard  to 
books  and  newspapers, 
then  I  have  done  some- 
thing of  which  I  shall 
not  be  ashamed  on  the 

BENJAMIN  FRANKLIN,  IN  HIS  YOUTH.   day    which    ^  ^ 

every  man's  work,  of  what  sort  it  is. 

Cherish  good  books  and  newspapers.  Beware  of  the  bad 
ones.  One  column  may  save  your  soul;  one  paragraph  may 
ruin  it.  Benjamin  Franklin  said  that  the  reading  of  Cotton 
Mather's  essay  on  "Doing  Good"  molded  his  entire  life.  The 
assassin  of  Lord  Eussell  declared  that  he  was  led  into  crime 


IMMORAL  LITERATURE. 


181 


by  reading  one  vivid  romance.  The  consecrated  John  Angell 
James,  than  whom  England  never  produced  a  better  man, 
declared  in  his  old  days  that  he  had  never  yet  got  over  the 
evil  effects  of  having  for  fifteen  minutes  once  read  a  bad  book. 
But  I  need  not  go  so  far  off.  I  could  come  near  home  and 
tell  you  of  something  that  occurred  in  my  college  days.  I 
could  tell  you  of  a  comrade  that  was  great-hearted,  noble  and 
generous.  He  was  studying  for  an  honorable  profession,  but 
he  had  an  infidel  book  in  his  trunk,  and  he  said  to  me  one 
day?  "De  Witt,  would  you  like  to  read  it?"  I  said:  "Yes, 
I  would."  I  took  the  book  and  read  it  only  for  a  few  min- 
utes. I  was  really  startled  with  what  I  saw  there,  and  I 
handed  the  book  back  to  him  and  said:  "You  had  better 
destroy  that  book."  No,  he  kept  it.  He  read  it.  He  re-read 
it.  After  awhile  he  gave  up  religion  as  a  myth.  He  gave  up 
God  as  a  nonentity.  He  gave  up  the  Bible  as  a  fable.  He 
gave  up  the  Church  of  Christ  as  a  useless  institution.  He 
gave  up  good  morals  as  being  unnecessarily  stringent.  I 
have  heard  of  him  but  twice  in  many  years.  The  time  before 
the  last  I  heard  of  him  he  was  a  confirmed  inebriate.  The 
last  I  heard  of  him  he  was  coming  out  of  an  insane  asylum — 
in  body,  mind  and  soul  an  awful  wreck.  I  believe  that  one 
infidel  book  killed  him  for  two  worlds. 

Look  through  your  library,  and  then,  having  looked 
through  your  library,  look  on  the  stand  where  you  keep  your 
pictorials  and  newspapers,  and  apply  the  Christian  principles 
I  have  laid  down.  If  there  is  anything  in  your  home  that 
can  not  stand  the  test,  do  not  give  it  away,  for  it  might  spoil 
an  immortal  soul ;  do  not  sell  it,  for  the  money  you  get  would 
be  the  price  of  blood;  but  rather  kindle  a  fire  on  your  kitchen 
hearth,  or  in  your  back  yard,  and  then  drop  the  poison  in  it, 
and  keep  stirring  the  blaze  until  from  preface  to  appendix 
there  shall  not  be  a  single  paragraph  left,  and  the  bonfire  in 
your  city  shall  be  as  consuming  as  that  one  in  the  streets  of 
Ephesus. 


CHAPTER  XIIL 


FOES   OF  SOCIETY. 

By  a  homely  but  expressive  figure,  David  sets  forth  the 
bad  influences  which  in  olden  time  broke  in  upon  God's 
heritage,  as  with  swine's  foot  trampling,  and  as  with  swine's 
snout  uprooting  the  vineyards  of  prosperity.  What  was  true 
then  is  true  now.  There  have  been  enough  trees  of  right- 
eousness planted  to  overshadow  the  whole  earth,  had  it  not 
been  for  the  axe-men  who  hewed  them  down.  The  temple  of 
truth  would  long  ago  have  been  completed  had  it  not  been 
for  the  iconoclasts  who  defaced  the  walls  and  battered  down 
the  pillars.  The  whole  earth  would  have  been  an  Eshcol  of 
ripened  clusters  had  it  not  been  that  "the  boar  has  wasted  it 
and  the  wild  beast  of  the  field  devoured  it. " 

I  propose  to  point  out  to  you  those  whom  I  consider  to 
be  the  uprooting  and  devouring  classes  of  society.  First,  the 
public  criminals.  You  ought  not  to  be  surprised  that  these 
people  make  up  a  large  portion  in  many  communities.  The 
vast  majority  of  ttie  criminals  who  take  ship,  from  Europe 
come  into  our  own  port.  In  1869,  of  the  forty-nine  thou- 
sand people  who  were  incarcerated  in  the  prisons  of  the 
country,  thirty-two  thousand  were  of  foreign  birth.  Many 
of  them  were  the  very  desperadoes  of  society,  oozing  into 
the  slums  of  our  cities,  waiting  for  an  opportunity  to  riot 
and  steal  and  debauch,  joining  the  large  gang  of  American 
thugs  and  cut-throats.  There  are  in  this  cluster  of  cities — 
New  York,  Jersey  City  and  Brooklyn — four  thousand  people 
whose  entire  business  in  life  is  to  commit  crime.  That  is  as 
much  their  business  as  jurisprudence  or  medicine  or  mer- 
chandise is  your  business.    To  it  they  bring  all  their  energies 

(182) 


FOES   OF  SOCIETY. 


185 


of  body  mind,  and  soul,  and  they  look  upon  the  interreg- 
nums which  they  spend  in  prison  as  so  much  unfortunate 
loss  of  time,  just  as  you  look  upon  an  attack  of  influenza  or 
rheumatism  which  fastens  you  in  the  house  for  a  few  days. 
It  is  their  lifetime  business  to  pick  pockets,  and  blow  up 
safes,  and  shoplift,  and  ply  the  panel  game,  and  they  have 
as  much  pride  of  skill  in  their  business  as  you  have  in  yours 
when  you  upset  the  argument  of  an  opposing  counsel,  or 
cure  a  gun-shot  fracture  which  other  surgeons  have  given 
up,  or  foresee  a  turn  in  the  market  so  you  buy  goods  just 
before  they  go  up  twenty  per  cent.  It  is  their  business  to 
commit  crime,  and  I  do  not  suppose  that  once  in  a  year  the 
thought  of  the  immorality  strikes  them.  Added  to  these 
professional  criminals,  American  and  foreign,  there  is  a 
large  class  of  men  who  are  more  or  less  industrious  in  crime. 
In  one  year  the  police  in  this  cluster  of  cities  arrested  ten 
thousand  people  for  theft,  and  ten  thousand  for  assault  and 
battery,  and  fifty  thousand  for  intoxication.  Drunkenness 
is  responsible  for  much  of  the  theft,  since  it  confuses  a 
man's  ideas  of  property,  and  he  gets  his  hands  on  things 
that  do  not  belong  to  him.  Rum  is  responsible  for  much  of 
the  assault  and  battery,  inspiring  men  to  sudden  bravery, 
which  they  must  demonstrate  though  it  be  on  the  face  of  the 
next  gentleman. 

Seven  million  of  dollars'  worth  of  property  stolen  in  this 
cluster  of  cities  in  one  year.  You  cannot,  as  good  citizens, 
be  independent  of  that  fact.  It  will  touch  your  pocket,  since 
I  have  to  give  you  the  fact  that  these  three  cities  pay  seven 
million  dollars'  worth  of  taxes  a  year  to  arraign,  try  and  sup- 
port the  criminal  population.  You  help  to  pay  the  board  of 
every  criminal,  from  the  sneak- thief  that  snatches  a  spool  of 
cotton,  up  to  some  man  who  enacts  a  "Black  Friday."  More 
than  that,  it  touches  your  heart  in  the  moral  depression  of 
the  community.  You  might  as  well  think  to  stand  in  a 
closely  confined  room  where  there  are  fifty  people  and  yet  not 


186 


FOES   OF  SOCIETY. 


breathe  the  vitiated  air,  as  to  stand  in  a  community  where 
there  is  such  a  great  multitude  of  the  depraved  without 
somewhat  being  contaminated.  What  is  the  fire  that  burns 
your  store  down  compared  with  the  conflagration  which  con- 
sumes your  morals?  What  is  the  theft  of  the  gold  and  silver 
from  your  money  safe  compared  with  the  theft  of  your  chil- 
dren's virtue? 

We  are  all  ready  to  arraign  criminals.  We  shout  at  the 
top  of  our  voice,  "Stop  thief!"  and  when  the  police  get  on 
the  track  we  come  out,  hatless  and  in  our  slippers,  and  assist 
in  the  arrest.  We  come  around  the  bawling  ruffian  and 
hustle  him  off  to  justice,  and  when  he  gets  in  prison,  what 
do  we  do  for  him?  With  great  gusto  we  put  on  the  hand- 
cuffs and  the  hopples;  but  what  preparation  are  we  making 
for  the  day  when  the  handcuffs  and  hopples  come  off? 
Society  seems  to  say  to  these  criminals,  u Villain,  go  in  there 
and  rot,"  when  it  ought  to  say,  "You  are  an  offender  against 
the  law,  but  we  mean  to  give  you  an  opportunity  to  repent ; 
we  mean  to  help  you.  Here  are  Bibles  and  tracts  and  Chris- 
tian influences.  Christ  died  for  you.  Look  and  live." 
Vast  improvements  have  been  made  by  introducing  industry 
into  the  prison ;  but  we  want  something  more  than  hammers 
and  shoe  lasts  to  reclaim  these  people.  Aye,  we  want  more 
than  sermons  on  the  Sabbath  day.  Society  must  impress 
these  men  with  the  fact  that  it  does  not  enjoy  their  suffering, 
and  that  it  is  attempting  to  reform  and  elevate  them.  The 
majority  of  criminals  suppose  that  society  has  a  grudge 
against  them,  and  they  in  turn  have  a  grudge  against  society. 

They  are  harder  in  heart  and  more  infuriate  when  they 
come  out  of  jail  than  when  they  went  in.  Many  of  the 
people  who  go  to  prison  go  again  and  again  and  again. 
Some  years  ago,  of  fifteen  hundred  prisoners  who  during  the 
year  had  been  in  Sing  Sing,  four  hundred  had  been  there 
before.  In  a  house  of  correction  in  the  country,  where  dur- 
ing a  certain  reach  of  time  there  had  been  five  thousand 


FOES  OF  SOCIETY. 


187 


people,  more  than  three  thousand  had  been  there  before.  So, 
in  one  case  the  prison,  and  in  the  other  case  the  house  of 
correction  left  them  just  as  bad  as  they  were  before.  The 
secretary  of  one  of  the  benevolent  societies  of  New  York 
saw  a  lad  fifteen  years  of  age  who  had  spent  three  years  of 
his  life  in  prison,  and  he  said  to  the  lad,  "  What  have  they 
done  for  you  to  make  you  better?  "  "  Well,"  replied  the  lad, 
"  the  first  time  I  was  brought  up  before  the  judge  he  said, 
'  You  ought  to  be  ashamed  of  yourself.'  And  then  I  com- 
mitted a  crime  again,  and  I  was  brought  up  before  the  same 
judge,  and  he  said,  'You  rascal !'  And  after  a  while  I  committed 
some  other  crime,  and  I  was  brought  before  the  same  judge, 
and  he  said,  *  You  ought  to  be  hanged.'  "  That  is  all  they 
had  done  for  him  in  the  way  of  reformation  and  salvation. 
"  Oh,"  you  say,  "  these  people  are  incorrigible."  I  suppose 
there  are  hundreds  of  persons  this  day  lying  in  the  prison 
bunks  who  would  leap  up  at  the  prospect  of  reformation,  if 
society  would  only  allow  them  a  way  into  decency  and 
respectability.  "  0,"  you  say,  "  I  have  no  patience  with 
these  rogues."  I  ask  you  in  reply,  how  much  better  would 
you  have  been  under  the  same  circumstances?  Suppose 
your  mother  had  been  a  blasphemer  and  your  father  a  sot, 
and  you  had  started  life  with  a  body  stuffed  with  evil  pro- 
clivities, and  you  had  spent  much  of  your  time  in  a  cellar 
amid  obscenities  and  cursing,  and  if  at  ten  years  of  age  you 
had  been  compelled  to  go  out  and  steal,  battered  and  banged 
at  night  if  you  came  in  without  any  spoils,  and  suppose 
your  early  manhood  and  womanhood  had  been  covered- with 
rags  and  filth  and  decent  society  had  turned  its  back  upon 
you,  and  left  you  to  consort  with  vagabonds  and  wharf-rats 
— how  much  better  would  you  have  been?  1  have  no  sym- 
pathy with  that  executive  clemency  which  would  let  crime 
run  loose,  or  which  would  sit  in  the  gallery  of  a  court-room 
weeping  because  some  hard-hearted  wretch  is  brought  to 
justice;  but  I  do  say  that  the  safety  and  life  of  the  com- 


188 


FOES  OF  SOCIETY. 


munity  demand  more  potential  influences  in  behalf  of  polit- 
ical offenders. 

The  Eaymond  street  jail  is  enough  to  bring  down  the 
wrath  of  Almighty  God  on  the  city  of  Brooklyn.  It  would 
not  be  strange  if  the  jail  fever  should  start  in  that  horrible 
hole,  like  that  which  raged  in  England  during  the  session  of 
the  Black  Assize,  when  three  hundred  perished — judges? 
jurors,  constables  and  lawyers.  Alas  that  our  fair  city  should 
have  such  a  pest-house.  I  understand  the  sheriff  and  jail- 
keeper  do  all  they  can,  under  the  circumstances,  for  the 
comfort  of  these  people  ;  but  five  and  six  people  are 
crowded  into  a  place  where  there  ought  to  be  but  one  or  two. 
The  air  is  like  that  of  the  Black  Hole  of  Calcutta.  As  the 
air  swept  through  the  wicket,  it  almost  knocked  me  down. 
No  sunlight.  Young  men  who  had  committed  their  first 
crime  crowded  in  among  old  offenders.  I  saw  there  one 
woman,  with  a  child  almost  blind,  who  had  been  arrested 
for  the  crime  of  poverty,  who  was  waiting  until  the  slow  law 
could  take  her  to  the  almshouse,  where  she  rightfully  be- 
longed ;  but  she  was  thrust  in  there  with  her  child  amid  the 
most  abandoned  wretches  of  the  town.  Many  of  the 
offenders  in  that  prison  sleeping  on  the  floor  with  nothing 
but  a  vermin-covered  blanket  over  them.  Those  people 
crowded  and  wan  and  wasted  and  half  suffocated  and  infu- 
riated. I  said  to  the  men,  "  How  do  you  stand  it  here  ?  " 
"  God  knows,"  said  one  man,  "  we  have  to  stand  it."  0, 
they  will  pay  you  when  they  get  out.  Where  they  burned 
down  one  house  they  will  burn  three.  They  will  strike 
deeper  the  assassin's  knife.  They  are  this  minute  plotting 
worse  burglaries.  Eaymond  street  jail  is  the  best  place  I 
know  of  to  manufacture  foot-pads,  vagabonds  and  cut-throats. 
Yale  College  is  not  so  well  calculated  to  make  scholars,  nor 
Harvard  so  well  calculated  to  make  scientists,  nor  Princeton 
so  well  calculated  to  make  theologians,  as  Eaymond  street 
jail  is  calculated  to  make  criminals.    All  that  these  men  do 


FOES  OF  SOCIETY. 


not  know  of  crime  after  they  have  been  in  that  dungeon  for 
some  time,  Satanic  machination  cannot  teach  them.  Every 
hour  that  jail  stands,  it  challenges  the  Lord  Almighty  to  smite 
this  city.  I  call  upon  the  people  to  rise  in  their  wrath  and 
demand  a  reformation.  I  call  upon  the  judges  of  our  courts  to 
expose  that  infamy.  I  call  upon  the  Legislature  of  the  State 
of  New  York,  now  in  session,  to  examine  and  appease  that 
outrage  on  God  and  human  society.  I  demand,  in  behalf  of 
those  incarcerated  prisoners,  fresh  air  and  clear  sunlight,  and, 
in  the  name  of  Him  who  had  not  where  to  lay  His  head,  a 
couch  to  rest  on  at  night.  In  the  insufferable  stench  and 
sickening  surroundings  of  that  Raymond  street  jail  there  is 
nothing  but  disease  for  the  body,  idiocy  for  the  mind,  and 
death  for  the  soul.  Stifled  air  and  darkness  and  vermin 
never  turned  a  thief  into  an  honest  man. 

We  want  men  like  John  Howard  and  Sir  William  Black- 
stone,  and  women  like  Elizabeth  Fry,  to  do  for  the  prisons 
of  the  United  States  what  those  people  did  in  other  days  for 
the  prisons  of  England.  I  thank  God  for  what  Isaac  T. 
Hopper  and  Doctor  Wines  and  Mr.  Harris  and  scores  of 
others  have  done  in  the  way  of  prison  reform;  but  we  want 
something  more  radical  before  upon  this  city  will  come  the 
blessing  of  Him  who  said:  "  I  was  in  prison  and  ye  came 
unto  me." 

In  this  class  of  uprooting  and  devouring  population  are 
untrustworthy  officials.  "  Woe  unto  thee,  0  land,  when  thy 
kings,  and  child,  and  thy  princes  drink  in  the  morning."  It 
is  a  great  calamity  to  a  city  when  bad  men  get  into  public 
authority.  Why  was  it  that  in  New  York  there  was  such 
unparalleled  crime  between  1866  and  1871 !  It  was  because 
the  judges  of  police  in  that  city,  for  the  most  part,  were  as 
corrupt  as  the  vagabonds  that  came  before  them  for  trial. 
Those  were  the  days  of  high  carnival  for  election  frauds, 
assassination,  and  forgery.  We  had  the  "  Whiskey  Ring," 
and  the  "Tammany  Ring,"  and  the  "Erie  Ring."  There 


\ 


190 


FOES  OF  SOCIETY. 


was  one  man  during  those  years  that  got  one  hundred  and 
twenty-eight  thousand  dollars  in  one  year  for  serving  the 
public.  In  a  few  years  it  was  estimated  that  there  were  fifty 
millions  of  public  treasure  squandered.  In  those  times  the 
criminal  had  only  to  wink  to  the  judge,  or  his  lawyer  would 
wink  for  him,  and  the  question  was  decided  for  the  defend- 
ant. Of  the  eight  thousand  people  arrested  in  that  city  in 
one  year,  only  three  thousand  were  punished.  These  little 
matters  were  "  fixed  up,"  while  the  interests  of  society  were 
"  fixed  down."  You  know  as  well  as  I  that  a  criminal  who 
escapes  only  opens  the  door  for  other  criminalities.  When 
the  two  pickpockets  snatched  the  diamond  pin  from  the 
Brooklyn  gentleman  in  a  Broadway  stage,  and  the  villains 
were  arrested,  and  the  trial  was  set  down  for  the  General 
Sessions,  and  then  the  trial  never  came,  and  never  anything 
more  was  heard  of  the  case,  the  public  officials  were  only 
bidding  higher  for  more  crime.  It  is  no  compliment  to  public 
authority  when  we  have  in  all  the  cities  of  the  country,  walk- 
ing abroad,  men  and  women  notorious  for  criminality,  un- 
whipped  of  justice.  They  are  pointed  out  to  you  in  the  street 
day  by  day.  There  you  find  what  are  called  the  "  fences," 
the  men  who  stand  between  the  thief  and  the  honest  man, 
sheltering  the  thief  and  at  great  price  handing  over  the  goods 
to  the  owner  to  whom  they  belong.  There  you  will  find  those 
who  are  called  the  "  skinners,"  the  men  who  hover  around 
Wall  street,  with  great  sleight  of  hand  in  bonds  and  stocks. 

There  you  find  the  funeral  thieves,  the  people  who  go  and 
sit  down  and  mourn  with  families  and  pick  their  pockets.  And 
there  you  find  the  "  confidence  men,"  who  borrow  money 
of  you  because  they  have  a  dead  child  in  the  house  and 
want  to  bury  it,  wThen  they  never  had  a  house  nor  a 
family;  or  they  want  to  go  to  England  and  get  a  large 
property  there,  and  they  want  you  to  pay  their  way,  and 
they  will  send  the  money  back  by  the  very  next  mail. 
There  are  the  "harbor  thieves,"  the   "shoplifters,"  the 


FOES  OF  SOCIETY. 


191 


^pickpockets,"  famous  all  over  the  cities.  Hundreds  of  them 
with  their  faces  in  the  "  Bogues'  Gallery,"  yet  doing  nothing 
for  the  last  five  or  ten  years  but  defraud  society  and  escape 
justice.  When  these  people  go  unarrested  and  unpunished, 
it  is  putting  a  high  premium  upon  vice,  and  saying  to  the 
young  criminals  of  this  country,  "  What  a  safe  thing  it  is  to 
be  a  great  criminal."  Let  the  law  swoop  upon  them.  Let 
it  be  known  in  this  country  that  crime  will  have  no  quarter, 
that  the  detectives  are  after  it,  that  the  police  club  is  being 
brandished,  that  the  iron  door  of  the  prison  is  being  opened, 
that  the  judge  is  ready  to  call  on  the  case.  Too  great  leniency 
to  criminals  is  too  great  severity  to  society.  When  the 
President  pardoned  the  wholesale  dealer  in  obscene  books  he 
hindered  the  crusade  against  licentiousness;  but  when 
Governor  Dix  refused  to  let  go  Foster  the  assassin,  who  was 
condemned  to  the  gallows,  he  grandly  vindicated  the  laws  of 
God  and  the  dignity  of  the  State  of  New  York. 

Among  the  uprooting  and  devouring  classes  in  our  midst 
are  the  idle.  Of  course,  I  do  not  refer  to  the  people  who  are 
getting  old,  or  to  the  sick,  or  to  those  who  cannot  get  work; 
but  I  tell  you  to  look  out  for  those  athletic  men  and  women 
who  will  not  work.  When  the  French  nobleman  was  asked 
why  he  kept  busy  when  he  had  so  large  a  property,  he  said, 
4 '  I  keep  on  engraving  so  I  may  not  hang  myself."  1  do  not 
care  who  the  man  is,  he  cannot  afford  to  be  idle.  It  is  from 
the  idle  classes  that  the  criminal  classes  are  made  up. 
Character,  like  water,  gets  putrid  if  it  stands  still  too  long. 
Who  can  wonder  that  in  this  world,  where  there  is  so  much 
to  do,  and  all  the  hosts  of  earth  and  heaven  and  hell  are 
plunging  into  the  conflict,  and  angels  are  flying,  and  God  is 
at  work,  and  the  universe  is  a-quake  with  the  inarching  and 
counter  marching,  that  God  lets  His  indignation  fall  upon  a 
man  who  chooses  idleness?  I  have  watched  these  do-nothings 
who  spend  their  time  stroking  their  beard,  and  retouching 
their  toilette,  and  criticising  industrious  people,  and  pass 


192 


FOES   OF  SOCIETY. 


their  days  and  nights  in  bar-rooms  and  club-houses,  lounging 
and  smoking  and  chewing  and  card-playing.  They  are  not 
only  useless,  but  they  are  dangerous.  How  hard  it  is  for 
them  to  while  away  the  hours. 


Alas !  For  them,  if  they  do  not  know  how  to  while  away 
an  hour,  what  will  they  do  when  they  have  all  eternity  on 
their  hands?  These  men  for  a  while  smoke  the  best  cigars, 
and  wear  the  best  broadcloth,  and  move  in  the  highest 


FOES  OF  SOCIETY. 


193 


spheres;  but  I  have  noticed  that  very  soon  they  come  clown 
to  the  prison,  the  almshouse,  or  stop  at  the  gallows. 

The  police  stations  of  this  cluster  of  cities  furnish  annually 
two  hundred  thousand  lodgings.  For  the  most  part,  these 
two  hundred  thousand  lodgings  are  furnished  to  able-bodied 
men  and  women — people  as  able  to  work  as  you  and  I  are. 
When  they  are  received  no  longer  at  one  police  station, 
because  they  are  "  repeaters,"  they  go  to  some  other  station, 
and  so  they  keep  moving  around.  They  get  their  food  at 
house  doors,  stealing  what  they  can  lay  their  hands  on  in 
the  front  basement  while  the  servant  is  spreading  the  bread 
in  the  back  basement.  They  will  not  work.  Time  and 
again,  in  the  country  districts,  they  have  wanted  hundreds 
and  thousands  of  laborers.  These  men  will  not  go.  They 
do  not  want  to  work.  I  have  tried  them.  I  have  set  them 
to  sawing  wood  in  my  cellar,  to  see  whether  they  wanted  to 
work.  I  offered  to  pay  them  well  for  it.  I  have  heard  the 
saw  going  for  about  three  minutes,  and  then  I  went  down, 
and  lo,  the  wood,  but  no  saw!  They  are  the  pest  of  society, 
and  they  stand  in  the  way  of  the  Lord's  poor,  who  ought  to 
be  helped,  and  will  be  helped.  While  there  are  thousands 
of  industrious  men  who  cannot  get  any  work,  these  men  who 
do  not  want  any  work  come  in  and  make  that  plea.  I  am 
in  favor  of  the  restoration  of  the  old-fashioned  whipping-post 
for  just  this  one  class  of  men  who  will  not  work;  sleeping 
at  night  at  public  expense  in  the  station  house ;  during  the 
day,  getting  their  food  at  your  doorstep.  Imprisonment  does 
not  scare  them.  They  would  like  it.  Blackwell's  Island  or 
Sing  Sing  would  be  a  comfortable  home  for  them.  They 
would  have  no  objection  to  the  almshouse,  for  they  like  thin 
soup,  if  they  cannot  get  mock -turtle.  I  propose  this  for  them : 
on  one  side  of  them  put  some  healthy  work;  on  the  other 
side  put  a  raw  hide,  and  let  them  take  their  choice.  I  like 
for  that  class  of  people  the  scant  biJl  of  fare  that  Paul  wrote 
out  for  the  Thessalonian  loafers:   "  If  any  work  not,  neither 


THE  LORD  S  POOR. 


FOES  OF  SOCIETY. 


195 


should  he  eat."  By  what  law  of  God  or  man  is  it  right  that 
you  and  I  should  toil  day  in  and  day  out,  until  our  hands  are 
blistered  and  our  arms  ache  and  our  brain  gets  numb,  and 
then  be  called  upon  to  support  what  in  the  United  States  are 
about  two  million  loafers !  They  are  a  very  dangerous  class. 
Let  the  public  authorities  keep  their  eyes  on  them. 

Among  the  uprooting  classes  I  place  the  oppressed  poor. 
Poverty  to  a  certain  extent  is  chastening;  but  after  that,  when 
it  drives  a  man  to  the  wall,  and  he  hears  his  children  cry 
in  vain  for  bread,  it  sometimes  makes  him  desperate.  I 
think  that  there  are  thousands  of  honest  men  lacerated  into 
vagabondism.  There  are  men  crushed  under  burdens  for 
which  they  are  not  half  paid.  While  there  is  no  excuse  for 
criminality,  even  in  oppression,  I  state  it  as  a  simple  fact 
uhat  much  of  the  scoundrelism  of  the  community  is  conse- 
quent upon  ill-treatment.  There  are  many  men  and  women 
battered  and  bruised  and  stung  until  the  hour  of  despair  has 
come,  and  they  stand  with  the  ferocity  of  a  wild  beast  which, 
pursued  until  it  can  run  no  longer,  turns  round,  foaming  and 
bleeding,  to  fight  the  hounds. 

There  is  a  vast  underground  city  life  that  is  appalling  and 
shameful.  It  wallows  and  steams  with  putrefaction.  You 
go  down  the  stairs,  which  are  wet  and  decayed  with  filth,  and 
at  the  bottom  you  find  the  poor  victims  on  the  floor,  cold, 
sick,  three-fourths  dead,  slinking  into  a  still  darker  corner 
under  the  gleam  of  the  lantern  of  the  police.  There  has 
not  been  a  breath  of  fresh  air  in  that  room  for  five  years, 
literally.  The  broken  sewer  empties  its  contents  upon  them, 
and  they  lie  at  night  in  the  swimming  filth.  There  they  are, 
men,  women,  children;  blacks,  whites;  Mary  Magdalen 
without  her  repentance,  and  Lazarus  without  his  God! 
These  are  the  "  dives  "  into  which  the  pickpockets  and  the 
thieves  go,  as  well  as  a  great  many  who  would  like  a  different 
life  but  cannot  get  it.  These  pieces  are  the  sores  of  the  city, 
which  bleed  perpetual  corruption.    They  are  the  underlying 


196 


FOES  OF  SOCIETY, 


volcano  that  threatens  us  with  a  Caraccas  earthquake.  It 
rolls  and  roars  and  surges  and  heaves  and  rocks  and  blas- 
phemes and  dies.  Aiad  there  are  only  two  outlets  for  it:  the 
police  court  and  the  Potter's  Field.  In  other  words,  they 
must  either  go  to  prison  or  to  hell.  0,  you  never  saw  it,  you 
say.    You  never  will  see  it  until  on  the  day  when  these 


MY  CHILDREN  BEGGING  FOR  BREAD. 

staggering  wretches  shall  come  up  in  the  light  of  the  judg- 
ment throne,  and  while  all  hearts  are  being  revealed  God  will 
ask  you  what  you  did  to  help  them. 

There  is  another  layer  of  poverty  and  destitution,  not  so 


FOES   OF  SOCIETY. 


199 


squalid,  but  almost  as  helpless.  You  hear  the  incessant 
wailing  for  bread  and  clothes  and  fire.  Their  eyes  are  sunken. 
Their  cheek-bones  stand  out.  Their  hands  are  damp  with 
slow  consumption.  Their  flesh  is  puffed  up  with  dropsies. 
Their  breath  is  like  that  of  a  charnel-house.  They  hear  the 
roar  of  the  wheels  of  fashion  over  head,  and  the  gay  laughter 
of  men  and  maidens,  and  wonder  why  God  gave  to  others 
so  much  and  to  them  so  little.  Some  of  them  thrust  into  an 
infidelity  like  that  of  the  poor  German  girl  who,  when  told 
in  the  midst  of  her  wretchedness  that  God  was  good,  she  said : 
"No,  no  good  God.    Just  look  at  me.    No  good  God." 

In  this  cluster  of  cities,  whose  cry  of  want  I  interpret, 
there  are  said  to  be,  as  far  as  I  can  figure  it  up  from  the 
reports,  about  two  hundred  and  ninety  thousand  honest  poor 
who  are  dependent  upon  individual,  city  and  State  charities. 
If  all  their  voices  could  come  up  at  once,  it  would  be  a  groan 
that  would  shake  the  foundations  of  the  city,  and  bring  all 
earth  and  heaven  to  the  rescue.  But,  for  the  most  part,  it 
suffers  unexpressed.  It  sits  in  silence,  gnashing  its  teeth, 
and  sucking  the  blood  of  its  own  arteries,  waiting  for  the 
judgment  day.  0,  I  should  not  wonder  if  on  that  day  it 
would  be  found  out  that  some  of  us  had  some  things  that 
belonged  to  them;  some  extra  garment  which  might  have 
made  them  comfortable  in  these  cold  days;  some  bread 
thrust  into  the  ash -barrel  that  might  have  appeased  their 
hunger  for  a  little  while ;  some  wasted  candle  or  gas-jet  that 
might  have  kindled  up  their  darkness ;  some  fresco  on  the 
ceiling  that  would  have  given  them  a  roof ;  some  jewel  which, 
brought  to  that  orphan  girl  in  time,  might  have  kept  her 
from  being  crowded  off  the  precipices  of  an  unclean  life; 
some  New  Testament  that  would  have  told  them  of  Him  who 
"  came  to  seek  and  save  that  which  was  lost. "  0,  this  wave 
of  vagrancy  and  hunger  and  nakedness  that  dashes  against 
our  front  door- step;  I  wonder  if  you  hear  it  and  see  it  as 
much  as  I  hear  it  and  see  it.  I  have  been  almost  frenzied 
with   the    perpetual    cry   for  help  from  all  classes  and 


200 


FOES  OP  SOCIETY. 


from  all  nations,  knocking,  knocking,  ringing,  ringing, 
until  I  dare  not  have  more  than  one  decent  pair  of  shoes, 
nor  more  than  one  decent  coat,  nor  more  than  one  decent 
hat,  lest  in  the  last  day  it  be  found  that  I  have  something 
that  belongs  to  them,  and  Christ  shall  turn  to  me  and  say: 
"Inasmuch  as  ye  did  it  not  to  these,  ye  did  it  not  to  Me."  If 
the  roofs  of  all  the  houses  of  destitution  could  be  lifted  so 
we  could  look  down  into  them  just  as  God  looks,  whose 
nerves  would  be  strong  enough  to  stand  it?  And  yet  there 
they  are.  The  forty-five  thousand  sewing-women  in  these 
three  cities,  some  of  them  in  hunger  and  cold,  working  night 
after  night,  until  sometimes  the  blood  spurts  from  nostril  and 
lip.  How  well  their  grief  was  voiced  by  that  despairiug 
woman  who  stood  by  her  invalid  husband  and  invalid  child, 
and  said  to  the  city  missionary:  "I  am  down-hearted. 
Everything's  against  us;  and  then  there  are  other  things. " 
"  What  other  things?  "  said  the  city  missionary.  "0,"  she 
replied,  "my  sin."  "What  do  you  mean  by  that?" 
"  Well,"  she  said,  "  I  never  hear  or  see  anything  good.  It's 
work  from  Monday  morning  to  Saturday  night,  and  then 
when  Sunday  comes  I  can't  go  out,  and  I  walk  the  floor,  and 
it  makes  me  tremble  to  think  that  I  have  got  to  meet  God. 
0,  sir,  it's  so  hard  for  us.  We  have  to  work  so,  and  then 
we  have  so  much  trouble,  and  then  we  are  getting  along  so 
poorly;  and  see  this  wee  little  thing  growing  weaker  and 
weaker;  and  then  to  think  we  are  getting  no  nearer  to  God, 
but  floating  away  from  Him.  0,  sir,  I  do  wish  I  was  ready 
to  die." 

I  should  not  wonder  if  they  had  a  good  deal  better  time 
than  we  in  the  future,  to  make  up  for  the  fact  that 
they  had  such  a  bad  time  here.  It  would  be  just  like  Jesus 
to  say:  "Come  up  and  take  the  highest  seats.  You  suf- 
fered with  Me  on  earth  ;  now  be  glorified  with  me  in 
heaven."  0  thou  weeping  One  of  Bethany!  0  thou  dying 
One  of  the  cross!  Have  mercy  on  the  starving,  freezing, 
homeless  poor  of  these  great  cities ! 


FOES  OF  SOCIETY. 


201 


I  want  you  to  know  who  are  the  up-rooting  classes  of 
society.  I  want  you  to  be  more  discriminating  in  your  char- 
ities. I  want  your  hearts  open  with  generosity,  and  your 
hands  open  with  charity.  I  want  you  to  be  made  the  sworn 
friends  of  al]  city  evangelization,  and  all  newsboys'  lodging 
houses,  and  all  Children's  Aid  Societies.  Aye,  I  want  you 
to  send  the  Dorcas  Society  all  the  cast-off  clothing,  that, 
under  the  skillful  manipulation  of  our  wives  and  mothers 
and  sisters  and  daughters,  these  garments  may  be  fitted  on 
the  cold,  bare  feet,  and  on  the  shivering  limbs  of  the  desti- 
tute. I  should  not  wonder  if  that  hat  that  you  give  should 
come  back  a  jeweled  coronet,  or  if  that  garment  that  you 
this  week  hand  out  from  your  wardrobe  should  mysteriously 
be  whitened,  and  somehow  wrought  into  the  Saviour's  own 
robe,  so  in  the  last  day  He  would  run  His  hand  over  it,  and 
say:  "  I  was  naked,  and  ye  clothed  Me."  That  would  be 
putting  your  garments  to  glorious  uses. 

I  think  in  the  contrast  you  will  see  how  very  kindly 
God  has  dealt  with  you  in  your  comfortable  homes,  at  your 
well-filled  tables,  and  at  the  warm  registers,  look  at  the 
round  faces  of  your  children,  and  then  at  the  review  of 
God's  goodness  to  you,  and  then  go  to  your  room  and  lock 
the  door,  and  kneel  down  and  say:  "  0  Lord,  I  have  been 
an  ingrate;  make  me  Thy  child.  0  Lord,  there  are  so  many 
hungry  and  unclad  and  unsheltered  to-day,  I  thank  Thee 
that  all  my  life  Thou  hast  taken  such  good  care  of  me.  0 
Lord,  there  are  so  many  sick  and  crippled  children  to-day,  I 
thank  Thee  mine  are  well,  some  of  them  on  earth,  some  of 
them  in  heaven.  Thy  goodness,  O  Lord,  breaks  me  down. 
Take  me  once  and  forever.  Sprinkled  as  I  was  many  years 
ago  at  the  altar,  while  my  mother  held  me,  now  I  consecrate 
my  soul  to  Thee  in  a  holier  baptism  of  repenting  tears. 
"  6  For  sinners,  Lord,  Thou  cam'st  to  bleed, 

And  I'm  a  sinner  vile  indeed; 
Lord,  I  believe  Thy  grace  is  free, 

O  magnify  that  grace  in  me.' " 


CHAPTER  XIV. 


THE  THEATER. 

Since  the  armies  of  civilization  and  Christianity  started 
on  their  march,  they  have  not  fallen  back  an  inch.  There 
have  been  regiments  cowardly,  which  have  retreated  and 
surrendered  to  the  enemy,  just  as  in  all  armies  there  are 
those  unworthy  the  standard  they  carry;  but  the  great  host 
of  God  has  been  answering  to  the  command  given  at  the 
start  of,  "  Forward,  march!  " 

Have  the  entertainments  and  recreations  of  the  world 
kept  abreast  in  this  grand  march  of  the  ages?  Are  the 
novels  of  our  day  superior  to  those  that  are  past?  Is  the 
dance  of  this  decade  an  improvement  upon  the  dance  of 
other  decades?  Are  the  opera  houses  rendering  grander 
music  than  that  which  they  rendered  in  other  times?  Are 
parlor  games  more  healthful  than  they  used  to  be?  Are  the 
theaters  advancing  in  moral  tone?  Mark  you,  I  am  not  to 
discuss  whether  the  theater  is  right  or  wrong.  I  am  not 
to  make  wholesale  attack  upon  tragedians  and  comedians. 
There  are  a  hundred  questions  in  regard  to  the  theater  that 
might  be  asked  which  I  shall  not  answer,  the  most  of  them 
having  been  answered  at  some  other  time  by  me.  You  say 
that  Henry  Irving  and  Edwin  Booth  and  Joseph  Jefferson 
are  great  actors,  and  are.  honorable  men.  I  believe  it.  The 
question  that  I  am  to  discuss  is :  Are  theaters  advancing  in 
high  moral  tone? 

There  are  three  or  four  reasons  for  answering  this  ques- 
tion in  the  negative,  and  the  first  is  the  combined  and 
universal  testimony  of  all  the  secular  newspapers  of  the  land 
that  are  worth  anything.    There  is  not  a  secular  newspaper 

(202) 


THE  THEATER 


203 


of  any  power  in  the  United  States  which  has  not  within  the 
past  few  years,  both  in  editorial  and  reportorial  column, 
reprehended  the  styles  of  play  most  frequent.    It  is  con- 


EDWIN  BOOTH. 

trary  to  the  financial  interests  of  the  secular  newspaper 
severely  to  criticise  the  playhouse,  because  from  it  comes  the 
largest  advertising  patronage,  larger  than  from  any  other 


204 


THE  THEATER. 


source,  thousands  and  tens  of  thousands  of  dollars  a  year. 
When,  therefore,  the  secular  newspapers  of  the  land,  con- 
trary to  their  financial  interests,  severely  criticise  the  play- 
house for  imbecile  and  impure  spectacular,  their  testimony  is 
to  me  conclusive.  On  the  negative  side  of  this  question  I 
roll  up  all  the  respectable  printing-presses  of  America. 

Another  reason  for  answering  thi*  question  in  the  nega- 
tive is  the  depraved  advertisements  on  the  bulletin  boards 


THE  AESTHETIC  DRAMA. 

and  on  the  board  fences  and  in  the  show  windows,  from 
ocean  to  ocean.  I  take  it  for  granted  that  those  advertise- 
ments are  honest,  and  that  night  by  night  are  depicted  the 
scenes  there  advertised.  Are  those  the  scenes  to  which 
parents  take  their  sons  and  daughters,  and  young  men  their 
affianced?  Would  you  allow  in  your  parlor  such  brazen 
indecency  enacted  as  is  dramatized  every  night  in  some  of 
the  theaters  of  America,  unless  their  advertisements  be  a 
libel?    If  the  pictures  be  genuine,  the  scenes  are  damnable. 


THE  THEATER. 


205 


That  which  is  wrong  in  a  parlor  is  wrong  on  a  stage. 
It  ought  to  require  just  as  much  completeness  of  apparel  to 
be  honorable  in  one  place  as  to  be  honorable  in  another.  If 
fathers  and  mothers  take  their  sons  and  daughters  to  see 
such  Sodomite  lack  of  robe,  and  then,  in  after  time,  the 
plowshare  of  libertinism  and  profligacy  should  go  through 
their  own  household,  they  will  get  what  they  deserve.  It 
seems  as  if,  having  obtained  a  surplus  of  sanctity  during  the 
Lenten  services,  right  after  Easter,  all  through  the  United 
States,  the  streets  become  a  picture  gallery  which  rival  the 
museums  of  Pompeii,  which  are  kept  under  lock  and  key. 
Where  are  the  mayors  of  the  cities,  and  the  judges  of  the 
courts,  and  the  police,  that  they  allow  such  things?  When 
our  cities  are  blotched  with  these  depraved  advertisements  is 
it  not  some  reason  why  we  should  think  that  the  theaters  of 
this  country  are  not  very  rapidly  advancing  toward  millennial 
excellence? 

Another  reason  for  answering  this  question  in  the  nega- 
tive is  the  large  importation  of  bad  morals  from  foreign 
countries  to  the  American  stage.  France  sent  one  of  her 
queens  of  the  stage  to  this  country,  her  infamy,  instead  of  a 
shame,  a  boast.  Never  more  a  popular  actress  on  the  Amer- 
ican stage,  and  never  one  more  dissolute.  Thousands  and 
tens  of  thousands  of  professed  Christian  men  and  women 
went  and  burned  incense  before  that  goddess  of  debauchery. 
England,  too,  has  sent  her  delectable  specimens  of  ineffable 
sweetness  commended  by  foreign  princes,  not  as  good  as 
their  mother.  When  I  take  into  consideration  this  large 
importation  of  bad  morals  from  foreign  ports,  I  come  to  the 
conclusion  that  the  American  theaters  are  not,  as  a  general 
thing,  advancing  in  moral  tone. 

Another  reason  for  answering  this  question  in  the  nega- 
tive is  the  fact  that  the  vast  majority  of  the  plays  of  the  day 
are  degenerate.  I  will  not  name  many  of  them,  because  I 
might  advertise  that  which  I  condemn,  and  the  mere  mention 


206 


THE  THEATER. 


of  them  would  be  a  perfidy.  If  I  mention  any  they  must  be 
those  that  are  a  little  past,  but  which  may  come  back  again 
when  the  American  taste  wants  a  change  of  carrion.  Take 
the  plays  of  the  last  fifteen  years,  and  I  will  admit  that  one- 
tenth  of  them  are  unobjectionable,  but  the  nine-tenths  of 
them  are  unfit  to  be  looked  at  by  the  families  of  America. 
Subtract  from  them  the  libertinism  and  the  domestic  intrigue 
and  the  innuendo  and  the  vulgarity  and  marital  scandalism, 
and  you  would  leave  those  plays  powerless  in  the  dramatic 
market. 

Put  side  by  side  the  plays  of  the  time  of  Macready  and 
the  elder  Booth  and  the  modern  plays,  and  you  will  find 
there  has  been  an  awful  decadence.  I  have  not  seen  those 
plays,  but  I  have  taken  the  testimony  of  authentic  witnesses, 
and  I  have  seen  the  skillful  analyses  by  critics — a  score  of 
critics — among  them  such  men  as  Dr.  Buckley,  of  New  York, 
men  who  have  read  scores  of  the  plays  and  who  can  report 
in  regard  to  them — I  take  the  testimony  of  those  who  wit- 
nessed the  plays  and  then  I  take  the  testimony  of  the  critics 
who  like  the  theater  and  who  do  not  like  it,  I  put  them  all 
together,  and  I  find  a  moral  decadence. 

If  you  who  took  your  families  to  see  East  Lynne  will  now 
in  your  cooler  moments  read  the  manuscript  of  that  play — 
read  the  printed  play,  and  go  through  the  fetid  and  malodor- 
ous chapters  in  which  dishonest  womanhood  is  chased  from 
iniquity  to  iniquity,  you  will  be  able  to  judge  for  yourself 
whether  that  is  an  improved  drama.  You  might  as  well  go 
into  the  grog-shop  of  the  village  hotel  and  sit  down  among 
the  bevy  of  village  loafers  expecting  to  get  any  moral  eleva- 
tion as  to  get  any  moral  elevation  from  a  play  like  the 
"Ticket  of  Leave  Man,"  full  of  villainous  pictures  and  low 
slang.  The  play  entitled  "A  New  Way  to  Pay  Old  Debts" 
is  a  eulogy,  a  practical  eulogy  on  deception  practised  on  the 
bad,  and  men  and  women  never  come  from  seeing  that  play 
as  pure  as  when  they  went  in.    "She  Stoops  to  Conquer"  is 


THE  THEATER. 


FERDINAND  AND  MIRANDA.— Tempest.   Act.  m,  Scene  L 

typhus  fever  on  a  summer  night.    You  may  write  Oliver 


208 


THE  THEATER. 


Goldsmith  above  it  and  beneath  it  and  at  the  close  of  each 
act,  but  you  can  not  cover  up  the  profane  and  the  salacious. 
The  "  School  for  Scandal"  is  rotten  clear  through  with  lasciv- 
iousness,  and  if  a  man  should  come  into  your  house  and 
take  that  play  from  under  his  arm  and  read  it  to  your  family, 
all  the  bones  that  were  left  in  his  body  unbroken  would  not 
be  worth  mentioning. 

But  who  could  mention  all  the  Don  Caesars,  and  the  bar- 
maids, and  the  Peg  Woffingtons,  and  the  Courtleighs,  and 
the  Lady  Gay  Spankers,  and  the  poltroons,  and  the  scape- 
graces, and  the  people  minus  all  excellency  plus  all  abomina- 
tion, who  gather  men,  women,  boys,  and  girls  by  tens  of 
thousands  every  night  in  the  lazaretto  of  the  average  Ameri- 
can theater.  It  is  estimated  that  there  are  one  thousand 
boys  in  Brooklyn  every  night  breathing  that  pestilence. 
Hear  it,  ye  whose  sons  stay  out  until  11  o'clock  at  night  and 
you  do  not  know  where  they  are !  Hear  it,  ye  philanthropists 
who  want  this  generation  better  than  the  generations  that 
have  gone  by ! 

Once  in  a  while  a  great  tragedian  will  render  King  Lear 
or  Merchant  of  Venice  or  Hamlet  before  entranced  audiences, 
but  those  plays  as  compared  with  the  imbecile  and  depraved 
plays  on  the  American  stage  to-day  are  as  the  few  drops  of 
pure  blood  to  the  bad  blood  in  a  man  who  has  passed  out 
from  yellow  fever  into  Asiatic  cholera  and  is  now  winding  up 
with  first-class  small-pox.  Now,  I  say  the  majority  of  the 
plays  of  this  country  being  bad  in  their  influence,  I  have  a 
right  to  conclude  that  the  theaters  of  America,  take  them  as 
an  average,  are  not  coming  to  any  very  large  moral  improve- 
ment. 

Now,  I  demand  that  as  men  and  women  who  love  the  best 
interests  of  society  that  we  band  together  to  snatch  the  drama 
from  its  debased  surroundings.  I  demand  that  as  philanthro- 
pists and  Christians  we  rescue  the  drama.  , 

The  drama  is  not  the  theater.    The  theater  is  a  human 


THE  THEATER.  209 

institution.    The  drama  is  a  literary  expression  of  something 


PORTIA  AND  SHYLOCK.— Merchant  of  Venice.  Act.  IV.  Scene  f. 
which  God  implanted  in  nearly  all  of  our  souls.    People  talk 


210 


THE  THEATER. 


as  though  it  were  something  built  up  entirely  outside  of  us 
by  the  Congreves  and  the  Sheridans  and  the  Shakespeares  of 
literature.  Oh!  no.  It  is  an  echo  of  something  divinely 
put  within  us.  You  see  it  in  your  little  child  three  or  four 
years  of  age  with  the  dolls  and  the  cradles  and  the  carts. 
You  see  it  ten  years  after  in  the  parlor  charades.  You  see 
it  after  in  the  impersonations  at  the  Academy  of  Music.  You 
see  it  on  Thanksgiving  Day,  when  we  decorate  the  house  of 
God  with  the  fruits  and  harvests  of  the  earth,  that  spectac- 
ular arousing  our  gratitude.  We  see  it  on  Easter  morn,  when 
we  spell  out  on  the  walls  of  the  house  of  God  in  flowers  the 
words:  "He  is  risen,"  that  spectacular  arousing  our  emotion. 
Every  parent  likes  it,  and  demonstrates  it  when  he  goes  to 
see  the  school  exhibition  with  its  dialogues  and  its  droll 
costumes.  It  is  evidenced  in  the  torchlight  procession  amid 
great  political  excitement,  that  torchlight  procession  only  a 
dramatization  of  the  political  principles  proclaimed. 

Dithyrambic  drama,  romantic  drama,  sentimental  drama, 
all  an  echo  of  the  human  soul.  Farqubar  and  Congreve  put 
in  English  literature  only  that  which  was  in  the  English 
heart.  Thespis  and  Eschylus  dramatized  only  that  which 
was  in  the  Greek  heart;  Seneca  and  Plautus dramatized  only 
that  which  was  in  the  Eoman  heart;  Kacine  and  Alfieri 
dramatized  only  that  which  was  in  the  French  and  the  Italian 
heart;  Shakespeare  dramatized  only  that  which  was  in  the 
world's  heart.  But  this  divine  principle  is  not  to  be  despoiled 
and  dragged  into  the  service  of  sin.  It  is  our  business  to 
rescue  it,  to  lift  it  up.  to  bring  it  back,  to  exalt  it.  Will  you 
suppress  it?  You  might  as  well  try  to  suppress  its  Creator. 
Just  as  we  cultivate  the  beautiful  and  the  sublime  in  taste  by 
bird  -  haunted  glen  and  roystering  stream  and  cascade  let  down 
over  moss-covered  rocks,  and  the  day  setting  up  its  banners 
of  victory  in  the  east,  and  passing  out  the  gates  of  the  west, 
setting  everything  on  fire,  the  Austerlitz  and  the  Waterloo  of 
a  July  thunder-storm  blazing  its  batteries  into  a  sultry  after- 


THE  THEATER. 


211 


noon,  and  the  round  tear  of  the  world  wet  on  the  cheek  of 
the  night — as  by  these  things  we  try  to  culture  a  taste  for  the 
sublime  and  the  beautiful,  so  we  are  to  culture  this  dramatic 
taste  by  staccato  passages  in  literature,  by  antithesis  and 
synthesis,  by  all  tragic  passages  in  human  life. 

We  are  to  take  this  dramatic  element  and  we  are  to 
harness  it  for  God.  Because  it  has  been  taken  into  the 
service  of  sin  is  nothing  against  it.  You  might  as  well 
denounce  music  because  in  Corinth  and  Herculaneum  it  was 
used  to  demonstrate  and  set  forth  depravity  and  turpitude. 
Shall  we  not  enthrone  music  on  the  organ  because  music 
again  and  again  has  been  trampled  under  the  foot  of  impious 
dance?  Because  there  are  pollutions  in  art  shall  we  turn 
back  upon  Church's  "  Niagara,"  or  Powers'  "  Greek  Slave," 
or  Bubens'  44  Descent  from  the  Cross,"  or  Michael  Angelo's 
"  Last  Judgment?"  Because  these  things  have  been  dragged 
into  the  service  of  sin  is  the  very  reason  that  you  and  I  should 
take  the  drama  out  and  harness  it  for  God  and  the  truth. 
You  Sabbath-school  teachers  want  more  of  the  dramatic  ele- 
ment in  your  work,  in  your  recital  of  the  Bible  scene,  in  the 
anecdote  that  you  tell,  in  the  descriptive  gesture,  in  the 
impersonation  of  the  character  you  present — you  want  more 
of  the  dramatic  element.  I  can  tell  in  looking  over  an 
audience  of  Sabbath-school  children  in  which  teacher  the 
dramatic  element  is  dominant,  and  in  which  the  didactic 
element  is  dominant. 

Oh,  there  are  hundreds  of  people  who  are  trying  to  do 
good.  Have  less  of  the  didactic  element,  and  have  more  of 
the  dramatic.  The  tendency  in  our  time  is  to  drone  religion, 
to  moan  religion,  to  croak  religion,  to  supulcherize  religion, 
when  it  ought  to  be  put  in  an  animated  and  spectacular  man- 
ner. 

I  say  to  all  those  young  men  who  are  preparing  for  the 
Gospel  ministry,  go  to  your  libraries  and  you  will  find  that 
those  who  bring  most  souls  to  God,  bring  most  into  the 


212 


THE  THEATER. 


kingdom  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  are  dramatic.  We  want 
in  all  our  work  to  freshen  up.  We  want  to  freshen  up,  you 
in  your  sphere  and  I  in  mine.  Great  discussions  in  religious 
newspapers  about  why  people  do  not  come  to  church.  I  will 
tell  you.  You  cannot  take  the  old  hackneyed  phrases  that 
have  come  snoring  down  through  the  centuries  and  arrest  the 
attention  of  the  masses.  People  in  religious  work  do  not 
want  the  sham  flowers  bought  in  a  millinery  shop,  but  the 
japonicas  wet  with  the  morning  dew.  They  do  not  want  the 
bones  of  the  extinct  megatherium  of  the  past,  but  the  living- 
reindeer  caught  last  August  at  the  edge  of  Schroon  Lake. 
We  need,  all  of  us,  to  drive  out  of  our  religious  work  the 
drowsy  and  the  tedious  and  the  didactic,  and  bring  in  the 
brightness  and  the  vivacity  and  the  holy  sarcasm  and  the 
sanctified  wit  and  epigrammatic  power,  and  the  blood-red 
earnestness,  and  we  will  get  it  through  the  sanctified  drama. 

But  let  me  say  to  young  men,  do  not  let  your  fond- 
ness for  the  dramatic  lead  you  into  sin.  While  God  has 
given  you  this  faculty,  cultivate  it,  and  cultivate  it  in  the 
right  direction.  Admire  it  when  it  is  used  for  God.  Abhor 
it  when  it  is  used  for  sin.  We  do  not  try  to  suppress  it  in 
you.  Do  not  misrepresent  us.  We  would  have  it  directed ; 
we  would  have  it  harnessed  for  multiplicand  usefulness.  In 
nowise  suppress  it.  Gather  all  your  faculties,  and  this 
among  the  others,  and  consecrate  them  to  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ. 


CHAPTER  XV. 


RIGHT  AND  WRONG  AMUSEMENTS. 

I  wish  to  to  draw  the  line  between  right  and  wrong 
amusements.  Indeed,  it  is  a  line  drawn  by  the  hand  of 
God,  and  reaching  from  eternity  to  eternity.  On  one  side  of 
the  line  it  is  all  right,  and  on  the  other  side  of  the  line  it  is  all 
wrong.  I  have  been  arguing  against  the  monster  of  iniquity, 
the  average  American  theater,  as  it  was  and  is.  I  pass  on 
to  lay  down  certain  principles  by  which  you  may  judge  in 
regard  to  any  amusement  or  recreation,  finding  out  for  your- 
self whether  it  is  right  or  whether  it  is  wrong. 

I  remark,  in  the  first  place,  that  you  can  judge  of  the 
moral  character  of  any  amusement  by  its  healthful  result,  or 
by  its  baleful  reaction.  There  are  people  who  seem  made  up 
of  hard  facts.  They  are  a  combination  of  multiplication 
tables  and  statistics.  If  you  show  them  an  exquisite  picture, 
they  will  begin  to  discuss  the  pigments  involved  in  the  color- 
ing. If  you  show  them  a  beautiful  rose,  they  will  submit  it 
to  a  botanical  analysis,  which  is  only  the  post  mortem  exam- 
ination of  a  flower.  They  have  no  rebound  in  their  nature. 
They  never  do  anything  more  than  smile.  There  are  no 
great  tides  of  feeling  surging  up  from  the  depths  of  their 
soul,  in  billow  after  billow  of  reverberating  laughter.  They 
seems  as  if  nature  had  built  them  by  contract,  and  made  a 
bungling  job  out  of  it.  But,  blessed  be  God,  there  are  people 
in  the  world  who  have  bright  faces,  and  whose  life  is  a  song, 
an  anthem,  a  paean  of  victory.  Even  their  troubles  are  like 
the  vines  that  crawl  up  the  side  of  a  great  tower,  on  the  top 
of  which  the  sunlight  sits,  and  the  soft  airs  of  summer  hold 
perpetual  carnival.    They  are  the  people  you  like  to  have 

(213) 


214 


RIGHT  AND  WRONG  AMUSEMENTS. 


come  to  your  house;  they  are  the  people  I  like  to  have  come 
to  my  house.  If  you  but  touch  the  hem  of  their  garments, 
you  are  healed. 

Now,  it  is  these  exhilarant  and  sympathetic  and  warm- 
hearted people  that  are  the  most  tempted  to  pernicious 
amusements.  In  proportion  as  a  ship  is  swift,  it  wants  a 
strong  helmsman;  in  proportion  as  a  horse  is  gay,  it  wants 
a  stout  driver;  and  these  people  of  exuberant  nature  will  do 
well  to  look  at  the  reaction  of  all  their  amusements.  If  an 
amusement  sends  you  home  at  night  nervous,  so  that  you 
can  not  sleep,  and  you  rise  up  in  the  morning,  not  because 
you  are  slept  out,  but  because  your  duty  drags  you  from  your 
slumbers,  you  have  been  where  you  ought  not  to  have  been. 
There  are  amusements  that  send  a  man  next  day  to  his  work 
bloodshot,  yawning,  stupid,  nauseated ;  and  they  are  wrong 
kinds  of  amusement.  There  are  entertainments  that  give  a 
man  disgust  with  the  drudgery  of  life,  with  tools  because 
they  are  not  swords,  with  working  aprons  because  they  are 
not  robes,  with  cattle  because  they  are  not  infuriated  bulls 
of  the  arena.  If  any  amusement  send  you  home  longing  for 
a  life  of  romance  and  thrilling  adventure,  love  that  takes 
poison  and  shoots  itself,  moonlight  adventures  and  hair- 
breadth escapes,  you  may  depend  upon  it  that  you  are  the 
sacrificed  victim  of  unsanctified  pleasure.  Our  recreations 
are  intended  to  build  us  up ;  and  if  they  pull  us  down  as  to 
our  moral  or  as  to  our  physical  strength,  you  may  come  to 
the  conclusion  that  they  are  in  the  class  spoken  of  as  ob- 
noxious. 

Still  further:  those  amusements  are  wrong  which  lead 
you  into  expenditure  beyond  your  means.  Money  spent  in 
recreation  is  not  thrown  away.  It  is  all  folly  for  us  to  come 
from  a  place  of  amusement  feeling  that  we  have  wasted  our 
money  and  time.  You  may  by  it  have  made  an  investment 
worth  more  than  the  transaction  that  yielded  you  a  hundred 
or  a  thousand  dollars.    But  how  many  properties  have  been 


RIGHT  AND  WRONG  AMUSEMENTS.  215 

riddled  by  costly  amusements?    The  table  has  been  robbed 


216 


RIGHT  AND  WRONG  AMUSEMENTS. 


wardrobe.  The  carousing  party  has  burned  up  the  boy's 
primer.  The  table-cloth  of  the  corner  saloon  is  in  debt  to 
the  wife's  faded  dress.  Excursions  that  in  a  day  make  a  tour 
around  a  whole  month's  wages ;  ladies  whose  lifetime  busi- 
ness it  is  to  "go  shopping;"  bets  on  horses  and  a  box  at  the 
theater  have  their  counterparts  in  uneducated  children,  bank- 
ruptcies that  shock  the  money  market  and  appall  the  Church, 
and  that  send  drunkenness  staggering  across  the  richly  figured 
carpet  of  the  mansion,  and  dashing  into  the  mirror,  and 
drowning  out  the  carol  of  music  with  the  whooping  of  bloated 
sons  come  home  to  break  their  old  mother's  heart. 

I  saw  a  beautiful  home,  where  the  bell  rang  violently  late 
at  night.  The  son  had  been  off  in  sinful  indulgences.  His 
comrades  were  bringing  him  home.  They  carried  him  to  the 
door.  They  rang  the  bell  at  one  o'clock  in  the  morning. 
Father  and  mother  came  down.  They  were  waiting  for  the 
wandering  son,  and  then  the  comrades,  as  soon  as  the  door 
was  opened,  threw  the  prodigal  headlong  into  door-way,  cry- 
ing: "  There  he  is,  drunk  as  a  fool.  Ha,  ha!  "  When  men 
go  into  amusements  that  they  can  not  afford,  they  first  borrow 
what  they  can  not  earn,  and  then  they  steal  what  they  can 
not  borrow.  First,  they  go  into  embarrassment,  and  then 
into  lying,  and  then  into  theft;  and  when  a  man  gets  as  far 
on  as  that,  he  does  not  stop  short  of  the  penitentiary.  There 
is  not  a  prison  in  the  land  where  there  are  not  victims  of 
unsanctified  amusements. 

How  often  1  have  had  parents  come  to  me  and  ask  me  to 
go  and  beg  their  boy  off  from  crimes  that  he  had  committed 
against  his  employer — the  taking  of  funds  out  of  the  em- 
ployer's till,  or  the  disarrangements  of  the  accounts.  Why, 
he  had  salary  enough  to  pay  all  lawful  expenditure,  but  not; 
enough  salary  to  meet  his  sinful  amusements.  And  again 
and  again  I  have  gone  and  implored  for  the  young  man, 
sometimes,  alas!  the  petition  all  unavailing.  Merchant,  is 
there  a  disarrangement  in  your  accounts?  Is  there  a  leakage 


RIGHT  AND  WRONG  AMUSEMENTS. 


217 


in  your  money-drawer?  Did  not  the  cash  account  come  out 
right  last  night?  I  will  tell  you.  There  is  a  young  man  in 
your  store  wandering  off  into  bad  amusements.  The  salary 
you  give  him  may  meet  lawful  expenditures,  but  not  the  sinful 
indulgences  in  which  he  has  entered,  and  he  takes  by  theft 
that  which  you  do  not  give  him  in  lawful  salary. 

How  brightly  the  path  of  unrestrained  amusement  opens. 
The  young  man  says:  "Now  I  am  off  for  a  good  time. 
Never  mind  economy.  I'll  get  money  somehow.  What 
splendid  acting  in  this  theater  to-night!  What  a  fine  road! 
What  a  beautiful  day  for  a  ride !  Crack  the  whip  and  over 
the  turnpike!  Come,  boys,  fill  high  your  glasses!  Drink! 
Long  life,  health,  plenty  of  rides  just  like  this!"  Hard- 
working men  hear  the  clatter  of  the  hoofs,  and  look  up,  and 
say:  "Why,  I  wonder  where  those  fellows  get  their  money 
from.  We  have  to  toil  and  drudge.  They  do  nothing."  To 
these  gay  men  life  is  a  thrill  and  an  excitement.  They  stare 
at  other  people,  and  in  turn  are  stared  at.  The  watch-chain 
jingles.  The  cup  foams.  The  cheeks  flush.  The  eyes  flash. 
The  midnight  hears  their  guffaw.  They  swagger.  They 
jostle  decent  men  off  the  sidewalk.  They  take  the  name  of 
God  in  vain.  They  parody  the  hymn  they  learned  at  their 
mother's  knee;  and  to  all  pictures  of  coming  disaster  they 
cry  out  "who  cares!"  and  to  the  counsel  of  some  Christian 
friend,  "Who  are  you!"  Passing  along  the  street  some 
night,  you  hear  a  shriek  in  a  grog-shop,  the  rattle  of  the 
watchman's  club,  the  rush  of  the  police.  What  is  the  matter 
now?  0,  this  reckless  young  man  has  been  killed  in  a  grog- 
shop fight.  Carry  him  home  to  his  father's  house.  Parents 
will  come  down  and  wash  his  wounds,  and  close  his  eyes  in 
death.  They  forgive  him  all  he  ever  did,  though  he  can  not 
in  his  silence  ask  it.  The  prodigal  has  got  home  at  last. 
Mother  will  go  to  her  little  garden,  and  get  the  sweetest  flow- 
ers, and  twist  them  into  a  chaplet  for  the  silent  heart  of  the 
wayward  boy,  and  push  back  from  the  bloated  brow  the  long 


218 


RIGHT  AND  WRONG  AMUSEMENTS. 


locks  that  were  once  her  pride :  And  the  air  will  be  rent  with 
the  father's  cry,  "0,  my  son,  my  son,  my  poor  son!  Would 
God  I  had  died  for  thee,  0,  my  son,  my  son!" 

I  go  further,  and  say  those  are  unchristian  amusements 
which  become  the  chief  business  of  a  man's  life.  Life  is  an 
earnest  thing.  Whether  we  were  born  in  a  palace  or  a  hovel ; 
whether  we  are  affluent  or  pinched,  we  have  to  work.  If  you 
do  not  sweat  with  toil,  you  will  sweat  with  disease.  You 
have  a  soul  that  is  to  be  transfigured  amid  the  pomp  of  a 
judgment-day;  and  after  the  sea  has  sung  its  last  chant,  and 
the  mountain  shall  have  come  down  in  an  avalanche  of  rock, 
you  will  live  and  think  and  act,  high  on  a  throne  where 
seraphs  sing,  or  deep  in  a  dungeon  where  demons  howl.  In 
a  world  where  there  is  so  much  to  do  for  yourselves,  and  so 
much  to  do  for  others,  God  pity  that  man  who  has  nothing 
to  do. 

Your  sports  are  merely  means  to  an  end.  They  are  alle- 
viations and  helps.  The  arm  of  toil  is  the  only  arm  strong 
enough  to  bring  up  the  bucket  out  of  the  deep  well  of 
pleasure.  Amusement  is  only  the  bower  where  business  and 
philanthropy  rest  while  on  their  way  to  stirring  achievements. 
Amusements  are  merely  the  vines  that  grow  about  the  anvil 
of  toil,  and  the  blossoming  of  the  hammers.  Alas  for  the 
man  who  spends  his  life  in  laboriously  doing  nothing,  his 
days  in  hunting  up  lounging-places  and  loungers,  his  nights 
in  seeking  out  some  gas-lighted  foolery!  The  man  who 
always  has  on  his  sporting  jacket,  ready  to  hunt  for  game  in 
the  mountain  or  fish  in  the  brook,  with  no  time  to  pray,  or 
work,  or  read,  is  not  so  well  off  as  the  greyhound  that  runs 
by  his  side,  or  the  fly-bait  with  which  he  whips  the  stream. 

A  man  who  does  not  Work  does  not  know  how  to  play. 
If  God  had  intended  us  to  do  nothing  but  laugh,  we  would 
have  been  all  mouth;* but  He  has  given  us  shoulders  with 
which  to  lift,  and  hands  with  which  to  work,  and  brains  with 
with  which  to  think.    The  amusements  of  life  are  merely  the 


RIGHT  AND  WRONG  AMUSEMENTS. 


219 


orchestra  playing  while  the  great  tragedy  of  life  plunges 
through  its  five  acts — infancy,  childhood,  manhood,  old  age, 
and  death.  Then  exit  the  last  chance  for  mercy.  Enter  the 
overwhelming  realities  of  an  eternal  world ! 

I  go  further,  and  say  that  all  those  amusements  are  wrong, 
which  lead  into  bad  company.  If  you  belong  to  an  organi- 
zation where  you  have  to  associate  with  the  intemperate, 
with  the  unclean,  with  the  abandoned,  however  well  they 
may  be  dressed,  in  the  name  of  God  quit  it.  They 'will 
despoil  your  nature.  They  will  undermine  your  moral  char- 
acter. They  will  drop  you  when  you  are  destroyed.  They 
will  give  not  one  cent  to  support  your  children  when  you  are 
dead.  They  will  weep  not  one  tear  at  your  burial.  They 
will  chuckle  over  your  damnation. 

0,  beware  of  evil  companionship.  "Kejoice,  0  young 
man,  in  thy  youth ;  and  let  thy  heart  cheer  thee  in  the  days 
of  thy  youth,  and  walk  in  the  ways  of  thine  heart,  and  in 
the  sight  cf  thine  eyes;  but  know  thou  that  for  all  these 
things  God  will  bring  thee  into  judgment." 

I  want  to  give  you  one  more  rule.  Any  amusement  that 
gives  you  a  distaste  for  domestic  life  is  bad.  How  many 
bright  domestic  circles  have  been  broken  up  by  sinful  pleas  • 
Tiring !  The  father  went  off,  the  mother  went  off,  the  child 
went  off.  There  are  to-day  the  fragments  before  me  of  a 
great  many  blasted  households.  0,  if  you  have  wandered 
awTay,  I  would  like  to  charm  you  back  by  the  sound  of  that 
one  word  "home."  Do  you  not  know  that  you  have  but 
little  more  time  to  give  to  domestic  welfare?  Do  you  not 
see,  father,  that  your  children  are  soon  to  get  out  into  the 
world,  and  all  the  influence  for  good  you  are  to  have  over 
them  you  are  to  have  now?  Death  will  break  in  on  your 
conjugal  relations,  and  alas,  if  you  have  to  stand  over  the 
grave  of  one  who  perished  from  your  neglect ! 

I  saw  a  wayward  husband  standing  at  the  death-bed  of 
his  Christian  wife,  and  I  saw  her  point  to  a  ring  on  her 


220 


RIGHT  AND  WRONG  AMUSEMENTS. 


finger,  and  heard  her  say  to  husband  "Do  you  see  that 
ring?"  He  replied,  "Yes,  I  see  it."  "Well,"  said  she,  "do 
you  remember  who  put  it  there?"  "Yes,"  said  he,"  "I  put 
it  there;"  and  all  the  past  seemed  to  rush  upon  him.  By  the 
memory  of  that  day  when,  in  the  presence  of  men  and 
angels,  you  promised  to  be  faithful  in  joy  and  in  sorrow,  in 
sickness  and  in  health;  by  the  memory  of  those  pleasant 


AT  THE  THEATER. 

hours  when  you  sat  together  in  your  new  home  talking  of  a 
bright  future;  by  the  cradle  and  the  joyful  hour  when  one 
life  was  spared  and  another  given ;  by  that  sick-bed,  when 
the  little  one  lifted  up  the  hands  and  called  for  help,  and  you 
knew  he  must  die,  and  he  put  one  arm  around  each  of  your 
necks  and  brought  you  very  near  together  in  that  dying  kiss; 
by  the  little  grave  that  you  never  think  of  without  a  rush  of 
tears;  by  the  family  Bible,  where,  amidst  stories  of  heavenly 


RIGHT  AND  WRONG  AMUSEMENTS. 


221 


love,  is  the  brief  but  expressive  record  of  births  and  deaths; 
by  the  neglects  of  the  past,  and  by  the  agonies  of  the  future; 
by  a  judgment-day,  when  husbands  and  wives,  parents  and 
children,  in  immortal  groups,  will  stand  to  be  caught  up  in 
shining  array,  or  to  shrink  down  into  darkness;  by  all  that, 
I  beg  you  to  give  to  home  your  best  affections.  I  ask  you 
the  question  that  Gehazi  asked  of  the  Shunamite:  "Is  it 
well  with  thee?  Is  it  well  with  thy  husband?  Is  it  well 
with  thy  child?"    God  grant  that  it  may  be  everlastingly  well. 

By  these  four  or  five  rules  I  want  you  to  try  all  amuse- 
ments, and  I  especially  want  you  to  try  the  American  theater. 
It  cannot  stand  the  test.  It  is  a  war  on  home,  it  is  a  war  on 
physical  health,  it  is  at  war  on  man's  moral  nature.  It  is 
the  broad  avenue  through  which  tens  of  thousands  press  into 
the  grog-shop  and  the  brothel.  0,  Christian  people,  stand 
back  from  it.  Do  not  say,  "I  go  sometimes;"  stand  back 
from  it. 

The  Eev.  Dr.  Hatfield,  of  New  York,  once  said  to  me, 
"I  used  to  go  to  the  theater  when  I  was  a  young  man. 
While  I  was  in  town,  a  Christian  friend  from  the  country 
came  to  the  city.  She  was  visiting  at  a  friend's  house.  I 
went  down  to  see  her,  and  found  that  she  had  gone  to  the 
theater.  I  went  to  the  theater.  I  got  inside,  and  I  looked, 
and  there  I  saw  her  fascinated  with  an  objectionable  play, 
and  I  said,  'Is  it  possible?  this  Christian  woman  looking  at 
such  things  as  these!'  although  I  was  not  a  Christian  man,  I 
said,  'I'll  never  come  to  the  theater  again ;'  and  that  was  the 
last  time  I  was  ever  there.  The  incongruity  of  a  Christian 
at  the  theater  drove  me  back  from  all  such  indulgences." 
They  tell  me  that  sometimes  ministers  of  the  Gospel  go  to 
such  places.  Let  me  tell  you  of  one  who  went  to  a  theater 
in  Boston  some  years  ago,  and  sat  in  the  pit,  with  his  hat 
drawn  down  over  his  eyes,  studying  elocution,  and  a  ruffian 
recognized  him.  He  had  not  his  hat  drawn  enough  down, 
and  the  ruffian  called  him  out  by  name,  "Kev.  Mr.  So-and- 


222 


RIGHT  AND  WRONG  AMUSEMENTS. 


So,"  and  called  it  with  a  blasphemy,  and  concluded  by  say- 
ing, "Let  us  pray!"  The  attention  of  the  whole  audience 
was  directed  to  him.  What  was  the  matter?  Why  did  he 
sit  with  his  hat  drawn  down  over  his  eyes?  He  was  ashamed 
to  be  there.  He  had  no  business  to  be  there.  A  vast  incon- 
gruity in  the  case  of  any  Christian  man,  when  he  sits  in  the 
theater.  The  theater  as  it  is  now,  unwashed  and  polluted, 
is  every  day  becoming  more  polluted;  for  I  saw  in  some  of 
the  papers  lately  a  statement  of  the  fact  that,  in  order  to 
meet  the  pressure  of  these  times,  and  more  powerfully  attract, 
the  theaters  are  now  presenting  more  indecent  plays  than 
ever.  0,  stand  back  from  it,  Christian  men  and  women. 
Before  God,  promise  your  own  soul,  promise  the  Church  of 
Christ,  that  you  will  never  be  seen  in  such  places. 

It  is  not  all  of  life  to  live.  We  were  not  sent  into  the 
world  merely  for  gayeties  and  amusements.  Are  you  pre- 
pared for  the  great  future?  Hear  you  not  the  tolling  of  old 
Trinity  and  the  tramp  of  the  Seventh  Eegiment,  and  see  you 
not  the  carrying  out  of  the  chief  magistrate  of  our  neighbor- 
ing city?  What  does  it  all  mean?  A  warning  to  the  i^tout 
and  the  well;  for  he  said,  "I  can  endure  anything."  This 
morning  the  sunlight  gilds  his  grave!  0,  men  of  the  strong 
arm,  and  of  the  stout  chest,  and  of  the  swarthy  develop- 
ment, 'kBeye  also  ready;  for  in  such  an  hour  as  ye  think 
not,  the  Son  of  man  cometh." 

I  read  of  a  woman  who  had  gone  all  the  rounds  of  sinful 
amusement,  and  she  came  to  die.  She  said,  "X  will  die  to- 
night at  six  o'clock."  "0,"  they  said,  "I  guess  not,  you 
don't  seem  to  be  sick."  "I  shall  die  at  six  o'clock,  and  my 
soul  will  be  lost.  I  know  it  will  be  lost.  I  have  sinned 
away  my  day  of  grace."  The  noon  came.  They  desired  to 
seek  religious  counsel.  "0,  no,"  she  said,  "it  is  of  no  use- 
My  day  is  gone.  I  have  been  all  the  rounds  of  worldly 
pleasure,  and  it  is  too  late.  I  shall  die  to-night  at  six 
o'clock,  and  my  soul  will  be  lost."    The  day  wore  away,  and 


RIGHT  AND  WRONG  AMUSEMENTS. 


223 


it  came  to  four  o'clock,  and  to  five  o'clock,  and  she  cried  out 
at  five  o'clock,  "Destroyed  spirits,  ye  shall  not  have  me  yet; 
it  is  not  six,  it  is  not  six!"  The  moments  went  by  and  the 
shadows  began  to  gather,  and  the  clock  struck  six,  and  while 
it  was  striking  her  soul  went.  What  hour  God  will  call  for 
you  I  do  not  know — whether  six  o'clock,  to-night,  or  three 
o'clock  this  afternoon,  or  at  one  o'clock,  or  this  moment. 
Sitting  where  you  are,  falling  forward,  or  standing  where 
you  are,  dropping  down^  where  will  you  go  to?  I  want  to 
tell  you  that  Christ  died  for  your  immortal  soul,  and  that  if 
you  will  repent,  you  may  be  saved.  Choose  Christ  this  day 
and  live. 


CHAPTER  XVI. 


DANCING. 

I  will  not  discuss  the  old  question,  Is  dancing  right  or 
wrong?  but  I  will  discuss  the  question,  Does  dancing  take  too 
much  place  and  occupy  too  much  time  in  modern  society?  I 
hope  to  carry  with  me  the  earnest  conviction  of  all  thoughtful 
persons.  You  will  admit,  whatever  you  think  of  that  style 
of  amusement  and  exercise,  that  from  many  circles  it  has 
crowded  out  all  intelligent  conversation.  You  will  also 
admit  that  it  has  made  the  condition  of  those  who  do  not 
dance,  either  because  they  do  not  know  how,  or  because  fchey 
have  not  the  health  to  endure  it,  or  because  through  con- 
scientious scruples  they  must  decline  the  exercise,  very 
uncomfortable.  You  will  also  admit  that  it  has  passed  in 
many  cases  from  an  amusement  to  a  dissipation,  and  you 
are  easily  able  to  understand  the  bewilderment  of  the  edu- 
cated Chinaman,  who,  standing  in  the  brilliant  circle  where 
there  was  dancing  going  on  four  or  five  hours,  and  the  guests 
seemed  exhausted,  turned  to  the  proprietor  of  the  house  and 
said,  "Why  don't  you  allow  your  servants  to  do  this  for  you?" 
You  are  also  willing  to  admit  that  whatever  be  your  idea  of 
the  old-fashioned  square  dance,  and  of  many  of  the  pro- 
cessional romps,  in  which  I  can  see  no  evil,  the  round  dance 
is  administrative  of  evil  and  ought  to  be  driven  out  of  all 
respectable  circles.  I  am  by  natural  temperament  and  reli- 
gious theory  opposed  to  the  position  taken  by  all  those  who 
are  horified  at  playfulness  on  the  part  of  the  young,  and  who 
think  that  all  questions  are  decided — questions  of  decency 
and  morals — by  the  position  of  the  feet,  while,  on  the  other 
hand,  I  can  see  nothing  but  ruin,  temporal  and  eternal,  for 

(224) 


DANCING. 


225 


those  who  go  into  the  dissipations  of  social  life,  dissipations 
which  have  already  despoiled  thousands  of  young  men  and 
young  women  of  all  that  is  noble  and  useful  in  life. 

Dancing  is  the  graceful  motion  of  the  body  adjusted  by 
art  to  the  sound  and  measures  of  musical  instrument  or  of 


DANCING  THE  QUADRILLE. 


the  human  voice.  All  nations  have  danced.  The  ancients 
thought  that  Castor  and  Pollux  taught  the  art  to  the  Lace- 
demonians. But  whoever  started  it,  all  climes  have  adopted 
it.  In  ancient  times  they  had  the  festal  dance,  the  military 
dance,  the  mediatorial  dance,  the  bacchanalian  dance,  and 
queens  and  lords  swayed  to  and  fro  in  the  gardens,  and  the 
rough  backwoodsman,  with  this  exercise  awakened  the  echo 
of  the  forest.    There  is  something  in  the  sound  of  lively 


226 


DANCING. 


music  to  evoke  the  movement  of  the  hand  and  foot,  whether 
cultured  or  uncultured.  Passing  down  the  street  we  uncon- 
sciously keep  step  to  the  sound  of  the  brass  band,  while  the 


Christian  in  church  with  his  foot  beats  time  while  his  soul 
rises  upon  some  great  harmony.  While  this  is  so  in  civilized 
lands,  the  red  men  of  the  forest  have  their  scalp  dances,  their 
green-corn  dances*  their  war  dances.    In  ancient  times  the 


DANCING. 


227 


exercise  was  so  utterly  and  completely  depraved  that  the 
church  anathematized  it.  The  old  Christian  fathers  expressed 
themselves  most  vehemently  against  it.  St.  Chrysostom  says : 
"  The  feet  were  not  given  for  dancing,  but  to  walk  modestly, 
not  to  leap  impudently  like  camels."  One  of  the  dogmas  of 
the  ancient  church  reads:  "A  dance  is  the  devil's  posses- 
sion, and  he  that  entereth  into  a  dance  entereth  into  his  pos- 
session. As  many  paces  as  a  man  makes  in  dancing,  so 
many  paces  does  he  make  to  hell."  Elsewhere  the  old 
dogmas  declared  this :  "  The  woman  that  singeth  in  the 
dance  is  the  princess  of  the  devil,  and  those  that  answer  are 
her  clerks,  and  the  beholders  are  his  friends,  and  the  music 
are  his  bellows,  and  the  fiddlers  are  the  ministers  of  the 
devil.  For  as  when  hogs  are  strayed,  if  the  hogsherd  call 
one  all  assemble  together,  so  when  the  devil  calleth  one  woman 
to  sing  in  the  dance,  or  to  play  on  some  musical  instrument, 
presently  all  the  dancers  gather  together."  This  indiscrim- 
inate and  universal  denunciation  of  the  exercise  came  from 
the  fact  that  it  was  utterly  and  completely  depraved. 

But  we  are  not  to  discuss  the  customs  of  the  olden 
times,  but  customs  now.  We  are  not  to  take  the  evidence  of 
the  ancient  fathers,  but  our  own  conscience,  enlightened  by 
the  Word  of  God,  is  to  be  the  standard.  Oh,  bring  no 
harsh  criticism  upon  the  young.  I  would  not  drive  out  from 
their  soul  all  the  hilarities  of  life.  I  do  not  believe  that  the 
inhabitants  of  ancient  Wales,  when  they  stepped  to  the  sound 
of  the  rustic  harp,  went  down  to  ruin.  I  believe  God  in- 
tended the  young  people  to  laugh  and  romp  and  play.  I  do 
not  believe  God  would  have  put  exuberance  in  the  soul  and 
exuberance  in  the  body  if  He  had  not  intended  they  should 
in  some  wise  exercise  it  and  demonstrate  it.  If  a  mother 
join  hands  with  her  children  and  cross  the  floor  to  the  sound 
of  music,  I  see  no  harm.  If  a  group  of  friends  cross  and 
recross  the  room  to  the  sound  of  piano  well  played,  I  see  no 
harm.    If  a  company,  all  of  whom  are  known  to  host  and 


DANCING. 


229 


hostess  as  reputable,  cross  and  recross  the  room  to  the  sound 
of  musical  instrument,  I  see  no  harm.  I  tried  for  a  long 
while  to  see  harm  in  it.  I  could  not  see  any  harm  in  it.  I 
never  shall  see  any  harm  in  that.  Our  men  need  to  be  kept 
young,  young  for  many  years  longer  than  they  are  kept 
young.  Never  since  my  boyhood  days  have  I  had  more  sym- 
pathy with  the  innocent  hilarities  of  life  than  I  have  now. 
What  though  we  have  felt  heavy  burdens !  What  though  we 
have  had  to  endure  hard  knocks !  Is  that  any  reason  why 
we  should  stand  in  the  way  of  those  who,  unstung  of  life's 
misfortunes,  are  full  of  exhilaration  and  full  of  glee? 

God  bless  the  young!  They  will  have  to  wait  many  a 
long  year  before  they  hear  me  say  anything  that  would 
depress  their  ardor  or  clip  their  wings  or  make  them  believe 
that  life  is  hard  and  cold  and  repulsive.  It  is  not.  I  tell 
them,  judging  from  my  own  experience,  that  they  will  be 
treated  a  great  deal  better  than  they  deserve.  We  have  no 
right  to  grudge  the  innocent  hilarities  to  the  young.  As  we 
go  on  in  years  let  us  remember  that  we  had  our  gleeful  times ; 
let  us  be  able  to  say,  "We  had  our  good  times,  let  others 
have  their  good  times."  Let  us  willingly  resign  our  place 
to  those  who  are  coming  after  us.  I  will  cheerfully  give 
them  everything — my  house,  my  books,  my  position  in  society, 
my  heritage.  After  twenty,  forty,  fifty  years  we  have  been 
drinking  out  of  the  cup  of  this  life,  do  not  let  us  begrudge 
the  passing  of  it  that  others  may  take  a  drink.  But  while 
all  this  is  so,  we  can  have  no  sympathy  with  sinful  indul- 
gences. What  are  the  dissipations  of  social  life  to-day,  and 
what  are  the  dissipations  of  the  ball-room?  In  some  cities 
and  in  some  places  reaching  all  the  year  round,  in  other 
places  only  in  the  summer  time  and  at  the  watering-places. 
There  are  dissipations  of  social  life  that  are  cutting  a  very 
wide  swathe  with  the  sickle  of  death,  and  hundreds  and 
thousands  are  going  down  under  these  influences,  and  my 
subject  in  application  is  as  wide  as  the  continent  and  as  wide 


DANCING. 


231 


as  Christendom.  The  whirlpool  of  social  dissipation  is  draw- 
ing down  some  of  the  brightest  craft  that  ever  sailed  the  sea — 
thousands  and  tens  of  thousands  of  the  bodies  and  souls 
annually  consumed  in  the  conflagration  of  ribbons. 

Social  dissipation  is  the  abbettor  of  pride,  it  is  the  insti- 
gator of  jealousy,  it  is  the  sacrificial  altar  of  health,  it  is  the 
defiler  of  the  soul,  it  is  the  avenue  of  lust  and  it  is  the  curse 
of  every  town  in  America.  Social  dissipation.  It  may  be 
hard  to  draw  the  line  and  say  that  this  is  right  on  the  one 
side,  and  that  is  wrong  on  the  other  side.  It  is  not  necessary 
that  we  do  that,  for  God  has  put  a  throne  in  every  man's 
soul,  and  I  appeal  to  that  throne.  When  a  man  does  wrong 
he  knows  he  does  wrong,  and  when  he  does  right  he  knows 
he  does  right,  and  to  that  throne  that  Almighty  God  lifted  in 
the  heart  of  every 
man  and  woman 
I  appeal.  As  to 
the  physical  ruin 
wrought  by  the 
dissipations  of  so- 
cial life  there  can 
be  no  doubt. 
What  may  we 
expect  of  people 
who  work  all  day 
and  dance  all 
night?  After 
awhile  they  will 
be  thrown  on 
society  nervous, 
exhausted  imbe- 
ciles. These  people  who  indulge  in  the  suppers  and  the 
midnight  revels  and  then  go  home  in  the  cold  unwrapped  in 
limbs,  will  after  awhile  be  found  to  have  been  written  down 
in  God's  eternal  records  as  suicides,  as  much  suicides  as  if 


THE  LATEST  SENSATION. 


232 


DANCING. 


they  had  taken  their  life  with  a  pistol,  or  a  knife,  or  strych- 
nine 

How  many  people  in  America  have  stepped  from  the  ball- 
room into  the  grave-yard?  Consumptions  and  swift  neural- 
gias are  close  on  their  track.  Amid  many  of  the  glittering 
scenes  of  social  life  in  America  diseases  stand  right  and  left 
and  balance  and  chain.  The  breath  of  the  sepulchre  floats 
up  through  the  perfume,  and  the  froth  of  Death's  lip  bub- 
bles up  in  the  champagne.    I  am  told  that  in  some  parts  of 

this  country,  in 
some  of  the  cit- 
ies, there  are  par- 
ents who  have 
actually  given  up 
housekeeping  and 
gone  to  boarding 
that  they  may 
give  their  time 
inimitably  to  so- 
cial dissipations. 
I  have  known 
such  cases.  I 
have  known  fam- 
ily after  family 
blasted  in  that 
way.  Father  and 
mother  turning 
their  back  upon 
all  quiet  culture 
and  all  the  amen- 
ities of  home,  leading  forth  their  entire  family  in  the  wrong 
direction.  Annihilated,  worse  than  annihilated — for  there  are 
some  things  worse  than  annihilation.  I  give  you  the  history 
of  more  than  one  family  in  America  when  I  say  they  went 
on  in  the  dissipations  of  social  life  until  the  father  dropped 


SOCIETY  FAVORITES. 


DANCING. 


233 


into  a  lower  style  of  dissipation,  and  after  awhile  the  son 
was  tossed  out  into  society  a  nonentity,  and  after  awhile  the 
daughter  eloped  with  a  French  dancing-master,  and  after 
awhile  the  mother,  getting  on  further  and  further  in  years, 
tries  to  hide  the  wrinkles  but  fails  in  the  attempt,  trying  all 
the  arts  of  the  belle,  an  old  flirt,  a  poor  miserable  butterfly 
without  any  wings. 

I  tell  you  that  the  dissipations  of  social  life  in  America, 
are  despoiling  the  usefulness  of  a  vast  multitude  of  people. 
What  do  those  people  care  about  the  fact  that  there  are  whole 
nations  in  sorrow  and  suffering  and  agony,  when  they  have 
for  consideration  the  more  important  question  about  the  size 
of  a  glove  or  the  tie  of  a  cravat?  Which  one  of  them  ever 
bound  up  the  wounds  of  the  hospital?  Which  one  of  them 
ever  went  out  to  care  for  the  poor?  Which  of  them  do  you 
find  in  the  haunts  of  sin  distributing  tracts  ?  They  live  on 
themselves,  and  it  is  very  poor  pasture.  Oh !  what  a  belittling 
process  to  the  human  mind  this  everlasting  question  about 
dress,  this  discussion  of  fashionable  infinitesimals,  this  group 
looking  askance-  at  the  glass,  wondering  with  an  infinity  of 
earnestness  how  that  last  geranium  leaf  does  look — this 
shrivelling  of  a  man's  moral  dignity  until  it  is  not  observable 
to  the  naked  eye,  this  Spanish  inquisition  of  a  tight  shoe, 
this  binding  up  of  an  immortal  soul  in  a  ruffle,  this  pitching 
off  of  an  immortal  nature  over  the  rocks  when  God  intended 
it  for  great  and  everlasting  uplifting.  You  know  as  well  as 
I  do  that  the  dissipations  of  social  life  in  America  to-day  are 
destroying  thousands  and  tens  of  thousands  of  people,  and 
it  is  time  that  the  pulpits  lift  their  voice  against  them,  for  I 
prophesy  the  eternal  misfortune  of  all  those  who  enter  the 
rivalry.  When  did  the  wThite,  glistening  boards  of  a  dissi- 
pated ball-room  ever  become  the  road  to  heaven?  When  was 
a  torch  for  eternity  ever  lighted  at  the  chandelier  of  a  dissi- 
pated scene?  From  a  table  spread  after  such  an  excited  and 
desecrated  scene  who  ever  went  home  to  pray? 


234 


DANCING. 


In  my  parish  at  Philadelphia  there  was  a  young  woman 
brilliant  as  a  spring  morning.  She  gave  her  life  to  the  world. 
She  would  come  to  religious  meetings  and  under  conviction 
would  for  a  little  while  begin  to  pray,  and  then  would  rush 
off  again  into  the  discipleship  of  the  world.  She  had  all  the 
world  could  offer  of  brilliant  social  position.  One  day  a 
flushed  and  excited  messenger  asked  me  to  hasten  to  her 
house,  for  she  was  dying.  I  entered  the  room.  There  were 
the  physicians,  there  was  the  mother,  there  lay  this  disciple 
of  the  world.  I  asked  her  some  questions  in  regard  to  the 
soul.  She  made  no  answer.  I  knelt  down  to  pray.  I  rose 
again,  and  desiring  to  get  some  expression  in  regard  to  her 
eternal  interests,  I  said:  "  Have  you  any  hope?  "  and  then 
for  the  first  time  her  lips  moved  in  a  whisper  as  she  said : 
"  No  hope !  "  Then  she  died.  The  world,  she  served  it,  and 
the  world  helped  her  not  in  the  last.  I  would  wish  that  I 
could  marshal  all  the  young  people  of  our  country  to  an 
appreciation  of  the  fact  that  they  have  an  earnest  work  in 
life,  and  that  their  amusements  and  recreations  are  only  to 
help  them  along  in  that  work.  At  the  time  of  a  religious 
awakening  a  Christian  young  woman  spoke  to  a  man  in 
regard  to  his  soul's  salvation.  He  floated  out  into  the  world. 
After  awhile  she  became  worldly  in  her  Christian  profession. 
The  man  said  one  day,  "  Well,  I  am  as  safe  as  she  is.  I 
was  a  Christian,  she  said  she  was  a  Christian.  She  talked 
with  me  about  my  soul;  if  she  is  safe  I  am  safe."  Then  a 
sudden  accident  took  him  off  without  an  opportunity  to 
utter  one  word  of  prayer.  Do  you  not  realize,  have  you  not 
noticed,  young  men  and  old — have  you  not  noticed  that  the 
dissipations  of  social  life  are  blasting  and  destroying  a  vast 
multitude? 


CHAPTEE  XVH. 


SOCIETY  WOMEN. 

It  is  a  strong  way  of  putting  the  truth,  that  a  woman 
who  seeks  in  worldly  advantage  her  chief  enjoyment,  will 
come  to  disappointment  and  death. 

My  friends,  you  all  want  to  be  happy.  You  have  had  a 
great  many  recipes  by  which  it  is  proposed  to  give  you  satis- 
faction— solid  satisfaction.  At  times  you  feel  a  thorough 
unrest.  You  know  as  older  people  what  it  is  to  be  depressed. 
As  dark  shadows  sometimes  fall  upon  the  geography  of  the 
school-girl  as  on  the  page  of  the  spectacled  philosopher.  I 
have  seen  as  cloudy  days  in  May  as  in  November.  There 
are  no  deeper  sighs  breathed  by  the  grandmother  than  by 
the  granddaughter.  I  correct  the  popular  impression  that 
people  are  happier  in  childhood  and  youth  than  they  ever 
will  be  again.  If  we  live  aright,  the  older  we  are  the  hap- 
pier we  are.  The  happiest  woman  that  I  ever  knew  was  a 
Christian  octogenarian;  her  hair  white  as  white  could  be; 
the  sunlight  of  heaven  late  in  the  afternoon  gilding  the 
peaks  of  snow.  I  have  to  say  to  a  great  many  young  people 
that  the  most  miserable  time  you  are  ever  to  have  is  just 
now.  As  you  advance  in  life,  as  you  come  out  into  the  world 
and  have  your  head  and  heart  all  full  of  good,  honest,  practi- 
cal, Christian  work,  then  you  will  know  what  it  is  to  begin 
to  be  happy.  There  are  those  who  would  have  us  believe 
that  life  is  chasing  thistle-down  and  grasping  bubbles.  We 
have  not  found  it  so.  To  many  of  us  it  has  been  discovering 
diamonds  larger  than  the  Kohinoor,  and  I  think  that  our  joy 
will  continue  to  increase  until  nothing  short  of  the  everlast- 
ing jubilee  of  heaven  will  be  able  to  express  it. 

(235) 


236 


SOCIETY  WOMEN. 


Horatio  Greenough,  at  the  close  of  the  hardest  life  a  man 
ever  lives — the  life  of  an  American  artist — wrote:  "I  don't 
want  to  leave  this  world  until  I  give  some  sign  that,  born  by 
the  grace  of  God  in  this  land,  I  have  found  life  to  be  a  very 
cheerful  thing,  and  not  the  dark  and  bitter  thing  with  which 
my  early  prospects  were  clouded."  Albert  Barnes,  the  good 
Christian,  known  the  world  over,  stood  in  his  pulpit  in  Phil- 
adelphia, at  seventy  or  eighty  years  of  age,  and  said:  "This 
world  is  so  very  attractive  to  me,  I  am  very  sorry  I  shall 
have  to  leave  it."  I  know  that  Solomon  said  some  very 
dolorous  things  about  this  world,  and  three  times  declared : 
"Vanity  of  vanities,  all  is  vanity."  I  suppose  it  was  a  refer- 
ence to  those  times  in  his  career  when  his  seven  hundred 
wives  almost  pestered  the  life  out  of  him !  But  I  would  rather 
turn  to  the  description  he  has  given  of  religion,  when  he  says 
in  another  place:  "Her  ways  are  ways  of  pleasantness,  and 
all  her  paths  are  peace."  It  is  reasonable  to  expect  it  will  be 
so.  The  longer  the  fruit  hangs  on  the  tree,  the  riper  and 
more  mellow  it  ought  to  grow.  You  plant  one  grain  of 
corn,  and  it  will  send  up  a  stalk  with  two  ears,  each  having 
nine  hundred  and  fifty  grains,  so  that  one  grain  planted  will 
produce  nineteen  hundred  grains.  And  ought  not  the  im- 
plantation of  a  grain  of  Christian  principle  in  a  youthful  soul 
develop  into  a  large  crop  of  gladness  on  earth  and  to  a  har- 
vest of  eternal  joy  in  heaven?  I  wish  to  show  some  of  the 
mistakes  which  young  people  make  in  regard  to  happiness, 
and  point  out  to  young  women  what  I  consider  to  be  the 
sources  of  complete  satisfaction. 

In  the  first  place,  I  advise  you  not  to  build  your  happi- 
ness upon  mere  social  position.  Young  persons  looking  off 
upon  life,  are  apt  to  think  that  if,  by  some  stroke  of  what  is 
called  good-luck,  they  could  arrive  in  an  elevated  and  affluent 
position,  a  little  higher  than  that  in  which  God  has  called  them 
to  live,  they  would  be  completely  happy.  Infinite  mistake ! 
The  palace  floor  of  Ahasuerus  is  red  with  the  blood  of 


QUEEN  VASHTI. 


/ 


SOCIETY  WOMEN. 


239 


Vashti's  broken  heart.  There  have  been  no  more  scalding 
tears  wept  than  those  which  coursed  the  cheeks  of  Josephine. 
If  the  sobs  of  unhappy  womanhood  in  the  great  cities  could 
break  through  the  tapestried  wall,  that  sob  would  come  alon£ 
your  streets  to  day  like  the  simoon  of  the  desert.  Sometimes 
[  have  heard  in  the  rustling  of  the  robes  on  the  city  pave- 
ment the  hiss  of  the  adders  that  followed  in  the  wake.  You 
have  come  out  from  your  home,  and  you  have  looked  up  at 
bhe  great  house,  and  coveted  a  life  under  those  arches,  when, 
perhaps,  at  that  very  moment,  within  that  house,  there  may 
'have  been  the  wringing  of  hands,  the  start  of  horror,  and  the 
very  agony  of  hell.  I  knew  such  a  one.  Her  father's 
house  was  plain,  most  of  the  people  who  came  there  were 
plain;  but,  by  a  change  in  fortune  such  as  sometimes  comes,  a 
hand  had  been  offered  that  led  her  into  a  brilliant  sphere^ 
All  the  neighbors  congratulated  her  upon  her  grand  pros- 
pects ;  but  what  an  exchange !  On  her  side  it  was  a  heart 
full  of  generous  impulse  and  affection.  On  his  side  it  was  a 
soul  dry  and  withered  as  the  stubble  of  the  field.  On  her 
side  it  was  a  father's  house,  where  God  was  honored  and  the 
Sabbath  light  flooded  the  rooms  with  the  very  mirth  of 
heaven.  On  his  side  it  was  a  gorgeous  residence,  and  the 
coming  of  mighty  men  to  be  entertained  there ;  but  within  it 
were  revelry  and  godlessness.  Hardly  had  the  orange  blos- 
soms of  the  marriage  feast  lost  their  fragrance,  than  the 
night  of  discontent  began  to  cast  here  and  there  its  shadow. 
The  ring  on  the  finger  was  only  one  link  of  an  iron  chain 
that  was  to  bind  her  eternally  captive.  Cruelties  and  unkind- 
ness  changed  all  those  splendid  trappings  into  a  hollow 
mockery.  The  platters  of  solid  silver,  the  caskets  of  pure 
gold,  the  head-dress  of  gleaming  diamonds,  were  there;  but 
no  God,  no  peace,  no  kind  words,  no  Christian  sympathy. 
The  festive  music  that  broke  on  the  captive's  ear  turned  out 
to  be  a  dirge,  and  the  wreath  in  the  plush  was  a  reptile  coil, 
and  the  upholstery  that  swayed  in  the  wind  was  the  wing  of 


240 


SOCIETY  WOMEN. 


a  destroying  angel,  and  the  bead-drops  on  the  pitcher  were 
the  sweat  of  everlasting  despair.  O,  how  many  rivalries  and 
unhappinesses  among  those  who  seek  in  social  life  their  chief 
happiness!  It  matters  not  how  fine  you  have  things;  there 
are  other  people  who  have  them  finer.  Taking  out  your 
watch  to  tell  the  hour  of  day,  some  one  will  correct  your  time- 
piece by  pulling  out  a  watch  more  richly  chased  and  jeweled. 
Bide  in  a  carriage  that  cost  you  eight  hundred  dollars,  and 
before  you  get  around  the  park  you  will  meet  one  that  cost 
two  thousand  dollars.  Have  on  your  wall  a  picture  by  Cop- 
ley, and  before  night  you  will  hear  of  some  one  who  has  a 
picture  fresh  from  the  studio  of  Church  or  Bierstadt.  All 
that  this  world  can  do  for  you  in  ribbons,  in  silver,  in  gold, 
in  Axminster  plush,  in  Gobelin  tapestry,  in  wide  halls,  in 
lordly  acquaintanceship,  will  not  give  you  the  ten-thousandth 
part  of  a  grain  of  solid  satisfaction.  The  English  lord, 
moving  in  the  very  highest  sphere,  was  one  day  found  seated, 
with  his  chin  on  his  hand,  and  his  elbow  on  the  window-sill, 
looking  out,  and  saying :  "0,1  wish  I  could  exchange 
places  with  that  dog."  Mere  social  position  will  never  give 
happiness  to  a  woman's  soul.  I  have  walked  through  the 
halls  of  those  who  despise  the  common  people;  I  have  sat  at 
their  banquets;  I  have  had  their  friendship;  yea,  I  have 
heard  from  their  own  lips  the  story  of  their  disquietude;  and 
I  tell  the  young  women  of  our  land  that  they  who  build  on 
mere  social  position  their  soul's  immortal  happiness,  are 
building  on  the  sand. 

I  go  further,  and  advise  you  not  to  depend  for  enjoy- 
ment upon  mere  personal  attractions.  It  would  be  sheer 
hypocrisy,  because  we  may  not  have  it  ourselves,  to  despise, 
or  affect  to  despise,  beauty  in  others.  When  God  gives  it, 
He  gives  it  as  a  blessing  and  as  a  means  of  usefulness. 
David  and  his  army  were  coming  down  from  the  mountains 
to  destroy  Nabal  and  his  flocks  and  vineyards.  The  beauti- 
ful Abigail,  the  wife  of  Nabal,  went  out  to  arrest  him  when 


SOCIETY  WOMEN. 


241 


he  came  down  from  the  mountains,  and  she  succeeded. 
Coming  to  the  foot  of  the  hill,  she  knelt.  David  with  his 
army  of  sworn  men  came  down  over  the  cliffs,  and  when  he 
saw  her  kneeling  at  the  foot  of  the  hill,  he  cried:  "Halt!" 


A  GBECIAN  BEAUTY. 


to  his  men,  and  the  caves  echoed  it:  "Halt!  halt!"  That 
one  beautiful  woman  kneeling  at  the  foot  of  the  cliff  had 
arrested  all  those  armed  troops.  A  dew-drop  dashed  back 
Niagara.  The  Bible  sets  before  us  the  portraits  of  Sarah  and 
Eebecca,  and  Abishag,  Absalom's  sister,  and  Job's  daughters, 
and  says.  "They  were  fair  to  look  upon."    By  out-door 


242 


SOCIETY  WOMEN. 


exercise,  and  by  skillful  arrangement  of  apparel,  let  women 
make  themselves  attractive.  The  sloven  has  only  one  mis- 
sion, and  that  to  excite  our  loathing  and  disgust.  But  alas! 
for  those  who  depend  upon  personal  charms  for  their  happi- 
ness. Beauty  is  such  a  subtle  thing,  it  does  not  seem  to 
depend  upon  facial  proportions,  or  upon  the  sparkle  of  the 
eye,  or  upon  the  flush  of  the  cheek.  You  sometimes  find  it 
among  irregular  features.  It  is  the  soul  shining  through  the 
face  that  makes  one  beautiful.  But  alas!  for  those  who 
depend  upon  mere  personal  charms.  They  wiJl  come  to  dis- 
appointment and  to  a  great  fret.  There  are  so  many  differ- 
ent opinions  about  what  are  personal  charms;  and  then 
sickness,  and  trouble,  and  age,  do  make  such  ravages.  The 
poorest  god  that  a  woman  ever  worships  is  her  own  face. 
The  saddest  sight  in  all  the  world  is  a  woman  who  has  built 
everything  on  good  looks,  when  the  charms  begin  to  vanish. 
0,  how  they  try  to  cover  the  wrinkles  and  hide  the  ravages 
of  time!  When  Time,  with  iron-shod  feet,  steps  on  a  face,  the 
hoof -marks  remain,  and  you  cannot  hide  them.  It  is  silly  to 
try  to  hide  them.  I  think  the  most  repulsive  fool  in  all  the 
world  is  an  old  fool! 

Why,  my  friends,  should  you  be  ashamed  to  be  getting 
old?  It  is  a  sign — it  is  prima  Jade  evidence,  that  you  have 
behaved  tolerably  well  or  you  would  not  have  lived  to  this 
time.  The  grandest  thing,  I  think,  is  eternity,  and  that  is 
made  up  of  countless  years.  When  the  Bible  would  set 
forth  the  attractiveness  of  Jesus  Christ,  it  says:  "His  hair 
was  white  as  snow."  But  when  the  color  goes  from  the 
cheek,  and  the  lustre  from  the  eye,  and  the  spring  from  the 
step,  and  the  gracefulness  from  the  gait,  alas!  for  those  who 
have  built  their  time  and  their  eternity  upon  good  looks. 
But  all  the  passage  of  years  cannot  take  out  of  one's  face 
benignity,  and  kindness,  and  compassion,  and  faith.  Cul- 
ture your  heart  and  you  culture  your  face.  The  brightest  glory 
that  ever  beamed  from  a  woman's  face  is  the  religion  of 


SOCIETY  WOMEN. 


243 


Jesus  Christ.  In  the  last  war  two  hundred  wounded  soldiers 
came  to  Philadelphia  one  night,  and  came  unheralded,  and 
they  had  to  extemporize  a  hospital  for  them,  and  the  Chris- 
tian women  went  out  that  night  to  take  care  of  the  poor 


wounded  fellows.  That  night  I  saw  a  Christian  woman  go 
through  the  wards  of  the  hospital,  her  sleeves  rolled  up,  ready 
for  hard  work,  her  hair  dishevelled  in  the  excitement  of  the 
hours.    Her  face  was  plain,  very  plain ;  but  after  the  wounds 


244 


SOCIETY  WOMEN. 


were  washed  and  the  new  bandages  were  put  round  the 
splintered  limbs,  and  the  exhausted  boy  fell  off  into  his  first 
pleasant  sleep,  she  put  her  hand  on  his  brow,  and  he  started 
in  his  dream,  and  said:  "0,  I  thought  an  angel  touched 
me!"  There  may  have  been  no  classic  elegance  in  the  fea- 
tures of  Mrs.  Harris,  who  came  into  the  hospital  after  the 
"Seven  Days"  awful  fight  before  Eichmond,  as  she  sat  down 
by  a  wounded  drummer-boy  and  heard  him  soliloquize:  "A 
ball  through  my  body,  and  my  poor  mother  will  never  again 
see  her  boy.  What  a  pity  it  is!"  And  she  leaned  over  him 
and  said:  " Shall  I  be  your  mother,  and  comfort  you?"  And 
he  looked  up  and  said:  "Yes,  I'll  try  to  think  she's  here. 
Please  to  write  a  long  letter  to  her,  and  tell  her  all  about  it, 
and  send  her  a  lock  of  my  hair  and  comfort  her  But  I 
would  like  to  have  you  tell  her  how  much  I  suffered — yes,  I 
would  like  you  to  do  that,  for  she  would  feel  so  for  me. 
Hold  my  hand  while  I  die."  There  may  have  been  no  classic 
elegance  in  her  features,  but  all  the  hospitals  of  Harrison's 
Landing  and  Fortress  Monroe  would  have  agreed  that  she 
was  beautiful;  and  if  any  rough  man  in  all  that  ward  had 
insulted  her,  some  wounded  soldier  would  have  leaped  from 
his  couch,  on  his  best  foot,  and  struck  him  dead  with  a 
crutch. 

I  advise  you  not  to  depend  for  happiness  upon  the  flatteries 
of  men.  It  is  a  poor  compliment  to  your  sex  that  so  many 
men  feel  obliged  in  your  presence  to  offer  unmeaning  com- 
pliments. Men  capable  of  elegant  and  elaborate  conversation 
elsewhere  sometimes  feel  called  upon  at  the  door  of  the 
drawing-room  to  drop  their  common  sense  and  to  dole  out 
sickening  flatteries.  They  say  things  about  your  dress,  and 
about  your  appearance,  that  you  know,  and  they  know,  are 
false.  They  say  you  are  an  angel.  You  know  you  are  not. 
Determined  to  tell  the  truth  in  office,  and  store,  and  shop, 
they  consider  it  honorable  to  lie  to  a  woman.  The  same 
thing  that  they  told  you  on  this  side  of  the  drawing-room? 


SOCIETY  "WOMEN. 


245 


three  minutes  ago  they  said  to  some  one  on  the  other  side  of 
the  drawing-room.  0,  let  no  one  trample  on  your  self-respect. 
The  meanest  thing  on  which  a  woman  can  build  her  happiness 
is  the  flatteries  of  men. 

I  charge  you  not  to  depend  for  happiness  upon  the  disci- 
pleship  of  fashion.  Some  men  are  just  as  proud  of  being 
out  of  fashion  as  others  are  of  being  in  it.  I  have  seen  men 
as  vain  of  their  old  fashioned  coat,  and  their  eccentric  hat, 
as  your  brainless  fop  is  proud  of  his  dangling  fooleries. 
Fashion  sometimes  makes  a  reasonable  demand  of  us,  and 
then  we  ought  to  yield  to  it.  The  daisies  of  the  field  have 
their  fashion  of  color  and  leaf;  the  honeysuckles  have  their 
fashion  of  ear-drop;  and  the  snow- 
flakes  flung  out  of  the  winter  heavens 
have  their  fashion  of  exquisiteness.  Af- 
ter the  summer  shower  the  sky  weds 
the  earth  with  ring  of  rainbow.  And  I 
do  not  think  we  have  a  right  to  despise 
all  the  elegancies  and  fashions  of  this 
world,  especially  if  they  make  reasonable 
demands  upon  us;  but  the  discipleship  ( 
and  worship  of  fashion  is  death  to  the  ' 
body,  and  death  to  the  soul.  I  am  glad 
the  world  is  improving.  Look  at  the 
fashion  plates  of  the  seventeenth  and 
eighteenth  centuries,  and  you  will  find 
that  the  world  is  not  so  extravagant  and 
extraordinary  now  as  it  was  then,  and  all 
the  marvellous  things  that  the  grand- 
daughter will  do  will  never  equal  that 
done  by  the  grandmother.  Go  still 
further  back  to  the  Bible  times,  and  you  find  that  in  those 
times  fashion  wielded  a  more  terrible  scepter.  You  have 
only  to  turn  to  the  third  chapter  of  Isaiah. 

Only  think  of  a  woman  having  all  that  on !  I  am  glad 
that  the  world  is  getting  better,  and  that  fashion  which  has 


246 


SOCIETY  WOMEN. 


dominated  in  the  world  so  ruinously  in  other  days  has  for  a 
little  time,  for  a  little  degree  at  any  rate,  relaxed  its  energies. 
Oh,  the  danger  of  the  discipleship  of  fashion.  All  the 
splendors  and  extraganza  of  this  world  dyed  into  your  robe 
and  flung  over  your  shoulder  cannot  wrap  peace  around  your 
heart  for  a  single  moment.  The  gayest  wardrobe  will  utter 
no  voice  of  condolence  in  the  day  of  trouble  and  darkness. 
That  woman  is  grandly  dressed,  and  only  she,  who  is  wrapped 
in  the  robe  of  a  Savior's  righteousness.  The  home  may  be 
very  humble,  the  hat  may  be  very  plain,  the  frock  may  be 
very  coarse ;  but  the  halo  of  heaven  settles  in  the  room  when 
she  wears  it,  and  the  faintest  touch  of  the  resurrection  angel 
will  change  that  garrnent  into  raiment  exceeding  white,  so 
as  no  fuller  on  earth  could  whiten  it.  I  speak  to  you,  young 
woman,  to-day,  to  say  that  this  world  cannot  make  you  happy. 
I  know  it  is  a  bright  world,  with  glorious  sunshine,  and  golden 
rivers,  and  fire-worked  sunset,  and  bird  orchestra,  and  the 
darkest  cave  has  its  crystals,  and  the  wrathiest  wave  its 
foam-wreath,  and  the  coldest  midnight  its  flaming  aurora; 
but  God  will  put  out  all  these  lights  with  the  blast  of  his  own 
nostrils,  and  the  glories  of  this  world  will  perish  in  the  final 
conflagration.  You  will  never  be  happy  until  you  get  your 
sins  forgiven  and  allow  Christ  Jesus  to  take  full  possession 
of  your  soul.  He  will  be  your  friend  in  every  perplexity. 
He  will  be  your  comfort  in  every  trial.  He  will  be  your 
defender  in  every  strait.  I  do  not  ask  you  to  bring,  like 
Mary,  the  spices  to  the  sepulcher  of  a  dead  Christ,  but  to 
bring  your  all  to  the  feet  of  a  living  Jesus.  His  word  is 
peace.  His  look  is  love.  His  hand  is  help.  His  touch  is 
life.  His  smile  is  heaven.  Oh,  come,  then,  in  flocks  and 
groups!  Come,  like  the  south  wind  over  banks  of  myrrh. 
Come,  like  the  morning  light  tripping  over  the  mountains. 
Wreathe  all  your  affections  for  Christ's  brow,  set  all  your 
gems  in  Christ's  coronet,  pour  all  your  voices  into  Christ's 
song,  and  let  the  air  rustle  with  the  wings  of  rejoicing  an- 
gels, and  the  towers  of  God  ring  out  the  news  of  souls  saved  I 


QUEEN  LOUISE  OF  PRUSSIA. 
[From  a  Painting  by  L.  RichterJ 


CHAPTER  XYIIL 


fashion's  follies. 

That  we  should  all  be  clad,  is  proved  by  the  opening  of 
the  first  wardrobe  in  Paradise,  with  its  apparel  of  dark  green. 
That  we  should  all,  as  far  as  our  means  allow  us,  be  beauti- 
fully and  gracefully  appareled,  is  proved  by  the  fact  that 
God  never  made  a  wave  but  he  gilded  it  with  golden  sun- 
beams, or  a  tree  but  he  garlanded  it  with  blossoms,  or  a  sky 
but  he  studded  it  with  stars,  or  allowed  even  the  smoke  of  a 
furnace  to  ascend  but  he  columned  and  turreted  and  domed 
and  scrolled  it  into  outlines  of  indescribable  gracefullness. 
When  I  see  the  apple-orchards  of  the  spring  and  the  page- 
antry of  the  autumnal  forests,  I  come  to  the  conclusion  that 
if  nature  ever  does  join  the  Church,  while  she  may  be  a 
Quaker  in  the  silence  of  her  worship,  she  never  will  be  a 
Quaker  in  the  style  of  her  dress.  Why  the  notches  of  a  fern 
leaf,  or  the  stamen  of  a  water-lily?  Why,  when  the  day  de- 
parts, does  it  let  the  folding-doors  of  heaven  stay  open  so 
long,  when  it  might  go  in  so  quickly?  One  summer  morn- 
ing I  saw  an  armjr  of  a  million  spears,  each  one  adorned  with 
a  diamond  of  the  first  water — I  mean  the  grass  with  the  dew  • 
on  it.  When  the  prodigal  came  home  his  father  not  only 
put  a  coat  on  his  back,  but  jewelry  on  his  hand.  Christ 
wore  a  beard.  Paul,  the  bachelor  apostle,  not  afflicted  with 
any  sentimentality,  admired  the  arrangement  of  a  woman's 
hair,  when  he  said,  in  his  epistle,  "  if  a  woman  have  long 
hair,  it  is  a  glory  unto  her."  There  will  be  fashion  in  hea- 
ven as  on  earth,  but  it  will  be  a  different  kind  of  fashion.  It 
will  decide  the  color  of  the  dress ;  and  the  population  of  that 
country,  by  a  beautiful  law,  will  wear  white.    I  say  these 

(249) 


250 


fashion's  follies. 


things  as  a  background  to  my  subject,  to  show  that  I  have  no 
prim,  precise,  prudish,  or  cast-iron  theories  on  the  subject  of 
human  apparel.  But  the  goddess  of  fashion  has  set  up  her 
throne  in  this  country  and  at  the  sound  of  the  timbrels  we 
are  all  expected  to  fall  down  and  worship.  The  old  and  new 
testament  of  her  bible  are  Madame  Demorest's  Magazine  and 
Harper  s  Bazar.  Her  altars  smoke  with  the  sacrifice  of  the 
bodies,  minds,  and  souls  of  ten  thousand  victims.  In  her 
temple  four  people  stand  in  the  organ-loft,  and  from  them 
there  comes  down  a  cold  drizzle  of  music,  freezing  on  the  ears 
of  her  worshipers.  This  goddess  of  fashion  has  become  a  rival 
of  the  Lord  of  heaven  and  earth,  and  it  is  high  time  that  we 
unlimbered  our  batteries  against  this  idolatry.  When  I 
come  to  count  the  victims  of  fashion  I  find  as  many  mascu- 
line as  feminine.  Men  make  an  easy  tirade  against  woman, 
as  though  she  were  the  chief  worshiper  at  this  idolatrous 
shrine.  My  words  shall  be  as  appropriate  for  the  one  as  for 
the  other. 

Men  are  as  much  idolators  of  fashion  as  women,  but 
they  sacrifice  on  a  different  part  of  the  altar.  With  men, 
the  fashion  goes  to  cigars  and  club-rooms  and  yachting  par- 
ties and  wine  suppers.  In  the  United  States  the  men  chew 
up  and  smoke  one  hundred  millions  of  dollars'  worth  of  to- 
bacco every  year.  That  is  their  fashion.  In  London,  not 
long  ago,  a  man  died  who  started  in  life  with  seven  hundred 
and  fifty  thousand  dollars,  but  he  ate  it  all  up  in  gluttonies, 
sending  his  agents  to  all  parts  of  the  earth  for  some  rare 
delicacy  for  the  palate,  sometimes  one  plate  of  food  costing 
him  three  or  four  hundred  dollars.  He  ate  up  his  whole 
fortune,  and  had  only  one  guinea  left;  with  that  he  bought 
a  woodcock,  and  had  it  dressed  in  the  very  best  style,  ate  it, 
gave  two  hours  for  digestion,  then  walked  out  on  Westmin- 
ster bridge  and  threw  himself  into  the  Thames,  and  died, 
doing  on  a  large  scale  what  you  and  I  have  often  seen  done 
on  a  small  scale.    But  men  do  not  abstain  from  millinery 


fashion's  follies. 


251 


and  elaboration  of  skirt  through  any  superiority  of  humility. 
It  is  only  because  such  appendages  would  be  a  blockade  to 
business.  "What  would  sashes  and  trains  three  and  a  half 
yards  long  do  in  a  stock  market?  And  yet  men  are  the  dis- 
ciples of  fashion  just  as  much  as  women.  Some  of  them 
wear  boots  so  tight  that  they  can  hardly  walk  in  the  paths 
of  righteousness.  And  there  are  men  who  buy  expensive 
suits  of  clothes  and  never  pay  for  them,  and  who  go  through 
the  streets  in  great  stripes  of  color  like  animated  checker- 
boards. Then  there  are  multitudes  of  men  who,  not  satis- 
fied with  the  bodies  the  Lord  gave  them,  are  padded  so  that 
their  shoulders  shall  be  square,  carrying  around  a  small  cot- 
ton plantation.  And  I  understand  a  great  many  of  them 
now  paint  their  eyebrows  and  their  lips,  and  I  have  heard 
from  good  authority  that  there  are  multitudes  of  men — 
things  have  got  to  such  an  awful  pass — multitudes  of  men 
wearing  corsets !  I  say  these  things  because  I  want  to  show 
you  that  I  am  impartial  in  my  words,  and  that  both  sexes, 
in  the  language  of  the  Surrogate's  office,  shall  "share  and 
share  alike."  As  God  may  help  me,  I  shall  show  you  what 
are  the  destroying  and  deathful  influences  of  inordinate 
fashion. 

The  first  baleful  influence  I  notice  is  in  fraud,  ill-imitable 
and  ghastly.  Do  you  know  that  Arnold  of  the  Eevolution 
proposed  to  sell  his  country  in  order  to  get  money  to  support 
his  wife's  wardrobe?  I  declare  here  before  God  that  the 
effort  to  keep  up  expensive  establishments  in  this  country  is 
sending  more  business  men  to  temporal  perdition  than  all 
other  causes  combined.  What  was  it  that  sent  Gilman  to 
the  penitentiary,  and  Philadelphia  Morton  to  the  watering 
of  stocks,  and  the  life  insurance  presidents  to  perjured  state- 
ments about  their  assets,  and  has  completely  upset  our 
American  finances?  What  was  it  that  overthrew  Belknap, 
the  United  States  Secretary  at  Washington,  the  crash  of 
whose  fall  shook  the  continent?    But  why  should  I  go  to 


252 


fashion's  follies. 


these  famous  defaultings  to  show  what  men  will  do  in  order 
to  keep  up  great  home  style  and  expensive  wardrobe,  when 
you  and  I  know  scores  of  men  who  are  put  to  their  wit's  end* 
and  are  lashed  from  January  to  December  in  the  attempt. 
Our  Washington  politicians  may  theorize  until  the  expiration 
of  their  terms  of  office  as  to  the  best  way  of  improving  our 
monetary  condition  in  this  country;  it  will  be  of  no  use, 
and  things  will  be  no  better  until  we  learn  to  put  on  our 
heads,  and  backs  and  feet,  and  hands  no  more  than  we  can 
pay  for. 

There  are  clerks  in  stores  and  banks  on  limited  salaries, 
who,  in  the  vain  attempt  to  keep  the  wardrobe  of  their 
family  as  showy  as  other  folk's  wardrobes,  are  dying  of  muffs, 
and  diamonds,  and  camel's  hair  shawls,  and  high  hats,  and 
they  have  nothing  left  except  what  they  give  to  cigars  and 
wine  suppers,  and  they  die  before  their  time  and  they  will 
expect  us  ministers  to  preach  about  them  as  though  they  were 
the  victims  of  early  piety,  and  after  a  high-class  funeral, 
with  silver  handles  at  the  side  of  their  coffin,  of  extraordi- 
nary brightness,  it  will  be  found  out  that  the  undertaker  is 
cheated  out  of  his  legitimate  expenses!  Do  not  send  to  me 
to  preach  the  funeral  sermon  of  a  man  who  dies  like  that.  I 
will  blurt  out  the  whole  truth,  and  tell  that  he  was  strangled 
to  death  by  his  wife's  ribbons!  The  country  is  dressed  to 
death.  You  are  not  surprised  to  find  that  the  putting  up  of 
one  public  building  in  New  York  cost  millions  of  dollars  more 
than  it  ought  to  have  cost,  when  you  find  that  the  man  who 
gave  out  the  contracts  paid  more  than  five  thousand  dollars 
for  his  daughter's  wedding  dress.  Cashmeres  of  a  thousand 
dollars  each  are  not  rare  on  Broadway.  It  is  estimated  that 
there  are  five  thousand  women  in  these  two  cities  who  have 
expended  on  their  personal  array  two  thousand  dollars  a  year. 

What  are  men  to  do  in  order  to  keep  up  such  home  ward- 
robes? Steal — that  is  the  only  respectable  thing  they  can  do ! 
During  the  last  fifteen  years  there  have  been  innumerable 


fashion's  follies. 


253 


fine  businesses  shipwrecked  on  the  wardrobe.  The  tempta- 
tion comes. in  this  way:  A  man  thinks  more  of  his  family 
than  of  all  the  world  outside,  and  if  they  spend  the  evening 
in  describing  to  him  the  superior  wardrobe  of  the  family 
across  the  street,  that  they  cannot  bear  the  sight  of,  the  man 


"  A  PLAIN  BUT  BEAUTIFUL  HOME. 


is  thrown  on  his  gallantry  and  his  pride  of  family,  and, 
without  translating  his  feelings  into  plain  language,  he  goes 
into  extortion  and  issuing  of  false  stock,  and  skillful  pen- 
manship in  writing  somebody  else's  name  at  the  foot  of  a 
promissory  note ;  and  they  all  go  down  together — the  husband 
to  the  prison,  the  wife  to  the  sewing  machine,  the  children  to 
be  taken  care  of  by  those  who  were  called  poor  relations.  0 ! 
for  some  new  Shakespeare  to  arise  and  write  the  tragedy  of 
human  clothes! 

Act  the  first  of  the  tragedy. — A  plain  but  beautiful  home. 
Enter,  the  newly-married  pair.    Enter,  simplicity  of  man- 


254 


fashion's  follies. 


ner  and  behavior.  Enter,  as  much  happiness  as  is  ever 
found  in  one  home.  Act  the  second. — Discontent  with  the 
humble  home.  Enter,  envy.  Enter,  jealousy.  Enter,  de- 
sire of  display.  Act  the  third. — Enlargement  of  expenses. 
Enter,  all  the  queenly  dressmakers.  Enter,  the  French 
milliners.  Act  the  fourth. — The  tip-top  of  society.  Enter, 
princes  and  princesses  of  New  York  life.  Enter,  magnifi- 
cent plate  and  equipage.  Enter,  everything  splendid.  Act 
the  fifth,  and  last. — Winding  up  of  the  scene.  Enter,  the 
assignee.  Enter,  the  sheriff.  Enter,  the  creditors.  Enter, 
humiliation.  Enter,  the  wrath  of  God.  Enter,  the  con- 
tempt of  society.  Enter,  death.  Now,  let  the  silk  curtain 
drop  on  the  stage.  The  farce  is  ended  and  the  lights  are 
out.  Will  you  forgive  me  if  I  say  in  the  tersest  terms  pos- 
sible that  some  of  the  men  in  this  country  have  to  forge  and 
to  swindle  and  to  perjure  to  pay  for  their  wives'  dresses?  I 
will  say  it,  whether  you  forgive  me  or  not. 

Again,  inordinate  fashion  is  the  foe  of  all  Christian 
alms -giving.  Men  and  women  put  so  much  in  personal 
display  that  they  often  have  nothing  for  God  and  the  cause 
of  suffering  humanity.  A  Christian  man  cracking  his  Pal- 
ais Eoyal  glove  across  the  back  by  shutting  up  his  hand  to 
hide  the  one  cent  he  puts  into  the  poor-box!  A  Christian 
woman,  at  the  story  of  the  Hottentots,  crying  copious  tears 
into  a  twenty-five  dollar  handkerchief,  and  then  giving  a 
two-cent  piece  to  the  collection,  thrusting  it  down  under  the 
bills  so  people  will  not  know  but  it  was  a  ten -dollar  gold 
piece!  One  hundred  dollars  for  incense  to  fashion.  Two 
cents  for  God.  God  gives  us  ninety  cents  out  of  every  dol- 
lar. The  other  ten  cents  by  command  of  His  Bible  belong 
to  Him.  Is  not  God  liberal  according  to  this  tithing  system 
laid  down  in  the  Old  Testament — is  not  God  liberal  in  giv- 
ing us  ninety  cents  out  of  a  dollar,  when  he  takes  but  ten? 
We  do  not  like  that.  We  want  to  have  ninety-nine  cents  for 
ourselves  and  one  for  God. 


fashion's  follies. 


255 


Now,  I  would  a  great  deal  rather  steal  ten  cents  from  you 
than  God.  I  think  one  reason  why  a  great  many  people  do 
not  get  along  in  worldly  accumulation  faster  is  because  they 
do  not  observe  this  divine  rule.  God  says:  "Well,  if  that 
man  is  not  satisfied  with  ninety  cents  of  a  dollar,  then  I  will 
take  the  whole  dollar,  and  I  will  give  it  to  the  man  or  woman 
who  is  honest  with  me."  The  greatest  obstacle  to  charity 
in  the  Christian  church  to-day  is  the  fact  that  men  expend 
so  much  money  on  their  table,  and  women  so  much  on  their 
dress,  they  have  got  nothing  left  for  the  work  of  God  and  the 
world's  betterment.  In  my  first  settlement  at  Belleville, 
New  Jersey,  the  cause  of  missions  was  being  presented  one 
Sabbath,  and  a  plea  for  the  charity  of  the  people  was  being 
made,  when  an  old  Christian  man  in  the  audience  lost  his 
balance,  and  said 
right  out  in  the 
midst  of  the  ser- 
mon: "Mr.  Tal- 
mage,  how  are  we 
to  give  liberally 
to  these  grand 
and  glorious  caus- 
es when  our  fami- 
lies dress  as  they 
do?"  I  did  not 
answer  that  ques- 
tion. It  was  the 
only  time  in  my 
life  when  I  had  nothing  to  say. 

Again,  inordinate  fashion  is  distraction  to  public  worship. 
You  know  very  well  there  are  a  good  many  people  who  come 
to  church  just  as  they  go  to  the  races,  to  see  who  will  come 
out  first.  What  a  flutter  it  makes  in  church  when  some  wo- 
man with  extraordinary  display  of  fashion  comes  in.  "What 
a  love  of  a  bonnet!"  says  some  one.    "What  a  perfect 


WHAT  A  LOVE  OF  A  BONNET. 


256 


fashion's  follies. 


fright!"  say  five  hundred.  For  the  most  merciless  critics  in 
the  world  are  fashion  critics.  Men  and  women  with  souls  to 
be  saved  passing  the  hour  in  wondering  where  that  man  got 
his  cravat,  or  what  store  that  woman  patronizes.  In  many 
of  our  churches  the  preliminary  exercises  are  taken  up  with 
the  discussion  of  wardrobes.  It  is  pitiable.  Is  it  not  won- 
derful that  the  Lord  does  not  strike  the  meeting-houses  with 
lightning !  What  distraction  of  public  worship !  Dying  men 
and  women,  whose  bodies  are  soon  to  be  turned  into  dust, 
yet  before  three  worlds  strutting  like  peacocks,  the  awful 
question  of  the  soul's  destiny  submerged  by  the  question  of 
Creedmore  polonaise,  and  navy  blue  velvet  and  long  fan  train 
skirt,  long  enough  to  drag  up  the  church  aisle,  the  husband's 
store,  office,  shop,  factory,  fortune,  and  the  admiration  of 
half  the  people  in  the  building.  Men  and  women  come  late 
to  church  to  show  their  clothes.  People  sitting  down  in  a 
pew  or  taking  up  a  hymn  book,  all  absorbed  at  the  same  time 
in  personal  array,  to  sing : 

"  Rise,  ray  soul,  and  stretch  thy  wings. 
Thy  better  portion  trace; 
Rise  from  transitory  things, 

Toward  heaven,  thy  native  place!" 

I  adopt  the  Episcopalian  prayer  and  say:  "Good  Lord, 
deliver  us!" 

Insatiate  fashion  also  belittles  the  intellect.  Our  minds 
are  enlarged  or  they  dwindle  just  in  proportion  to  the  im- 
portance of  the  subject  on  which  we  constantly  dwell.  Can 
you  imagine  anything  more  dwarfing  to  the  human  intellect 
than  the  study  of  fashion?  I  see  men  on  the  street  who, 
judging  from  their  elaboration,  I  think  must  have  taken  two 
hours  to  arrange  their  apparel.  After  a  few  years  of  that 
kind  of  absorption,  which  one  of  McAllister's  magnifying 
passes  will  he  powerful  enough  to  make  the  man's  character 
visible?  "What  will  be  left  of  a  woman's  intellect  after  giving 
years  and  years  to  the  discussion  of  such  questions  as  the 


fashion's  follies. 


257 


comparison  between  knife-pleats  and  box-pleats,  and  border- 
ings  of  grey  fox  fur  or  black  martin,  or  the  comparative 
excellence  of  circulars  of  repped  Antwerp  silk  lined  with  blue 
fox  fur  or  with  Hudson  Bay  sable?  They  all  land  in  idiocy. 
I  have  seen  men  at  the  summer  watering-places,  through 
fashion  the  mere  wreck  of  what  they  once  were.  Sallow  of 
cheek.  Meager  of  limb.  Hollow  at  the  chest.  Showing  no 
animation  save  in  rushing  across  a  room  to  pick  up  a  lady's 


the  simpering  man.  fashion  and  the  Christian  God. 
There  are  a  great  many  seats  in  heaven,  and  they  are  all 
easy  seats,  but  not  one  seat  for  the  devotee  of  fashion. 
Heaven  is  for  meek  and  quiet  spirits.  Heaven  is  for  those 
who  think  more  of  their  souls  than  of  their  bodies.  Heaven 
is  for  those  who  have  more  joy  in  Christian  charity  than  in 
dry-goods  religion.  Why,  if  you  with  your  idolatry  of 
fashion  should  somehow  get  into  heaven,  you  would  be  for 


fan.  Simpering  along  the  corridors, 
the  same  compliments  they  sim- 
pered twenty  years  ago.  A  New 
York  lawyer  last  summer  at  United 
States  Hotel,  Saratoga,  within  our 
hearing,  rushed  across  a  room  to 
say  to  a  sensible  woman,  "You  are 
as  sweet  as  peaches!"  The  fools 
of  fashion  are  myriad.  Fashion 
not  only  destroys  the  body,  but  it 
makes  idiotic  the  intellect. 


Yet,  my  friends,  I  have  given 
you  only  the  milder  phase  of  this 
evil.  It  shuts  a  great  multitude 
out  of  heaven.  The  first  peal  of 
thunder  that  shook  Sinai  declared: 
"Thou  shalt  have  no  other  God  be- 


fore me,"  and  you  will  have  to 
choose   between   the   goddess  of 


258 


fashion's  follies. 


putting  a  French  roof  on  the  "house  of  many  mansions," 
and  making  plaits  and  Hamburg  embroidery  and  flounces  in 
the  robes,  and  you  would  be  for  introducing  the  patterns  of 
Butterick's  Quarterly  Delineator.  Give  up  this  idolatry  of 
fashion,  or  give  up  heaven.  What  would  you  do  standing 
beside  the  Countess  of  Huntington,  whose  joy  it  was  to  build 
chapels  for  the  poor,  or  with  that  Christian  woman  of  Boston, 
who  fed  fifteen  hundred  children  of  the  street  at  Faneuil 
Hall  on  New  Year's  Day,  giving  out  as  a  sort  of  doxology  at 
the  end  of  the  meeting  a  pair  of  shoes  to  each  one  of  them ; 
or  those  Dorcases  of  modern  society  who  have  consecrated 
their  needles  to  the  Lord,  and  who  will  get  eternal  reward  for 
every  stitch  they  take.  0!  men  and  women,  give  up  the 
idolatry  of  fashion.  The  rivalries  and  the  competitions  of 
such  a  life  are  a  stupendous  wretchedness.  You  will  always 
find  some  one  with  brighter  array  and  with  more  palatial 
residence,  and  with  lavender  kid  gloves  that  make  a  tighter 
fit.  And  if  you  buy  this  thing  and  wear  it  you  will  wish 
you  had  bought  something  else  and  worn  it.  And  the  frets 
of  such  a  life  will  bring  the  crows'  feet  to  your  temples  before 
they  are  due,  and  when  you  come  to  die  you  will  have  a 
miserable  time.  I  have  seen  men  and  women  of  fashion  die, 
and  I  never  saw  one  of  them  die  well.  The  trappings  off, 
there  they  lay  on  the  tumbled  pillow,  and  there  were  just 
two  things  that  bothered  them — a  wasted  life  and  a  coming 
eternity.  I  could  not  pacify  them,  for  their  body,  mind,  and 
soul  had  been  exhausted  in  the  worship  of  fashion,  and 
they  could  not  appreciate  the  gospel.  When  I  knelt  by  their 
bedside  they  were  mumbling  out  their  regrets  and  saying,  "0 
God!  0  God!"  Their  garments  hung  up  in  the  wardrobe, 
never  again  to  be  seen  by  them.  Without  any  exception,  so 
far  as  my  memory  serves  me,  they  died  without  hope,  and 
went  into  eternity  unprepared.  The  two  most  ghastly  death- 
beds on  earth  are,  the  one  where  a  man  dies  of  delirium 
tremens,  and  the  other  where  a  woman  dies  after  having 


fashion's  follies. 


259 


sacrificed  all  her  faculties  of  body,  mind  and  soul  in  the 
worship  of  fashion.  My  friends,  we  must  appear  in  judg- 
ment to  answer  for  what  we  have  worn  on  our  bodies  as  well 
as  for  what  repentances  we  have  exercised  with  our  souls. 
On  that  day, I  see  coming  in,  Beau  Brummel  of  the  last 
century,  without  his  cloak,  like  which  all  England  got  a 
cloak;  and  without  his  cane,  like  which  all  England  got  a 
cane;  without  his  snuff-box,  like  which  all  England  got  a 
snuff-box — he,  the  fop  of  the  ages,  particular  about  every- 
thing but  his  morals ;  and  Aaron  Burr,  without  the  letters 
that  down  to  old  age  he  showed  in  pride,  to  prove  his  early 
wicked  gallantries;  and  Absalom  without  his  hair;  and  Mar- 
chioness Pompadour  without  her  titles ;  and  Mrs.  Arnold, 
the  belle  of  Wall  street,  when  that  was  the  center  of  fashion, 
without  her  fripperies  of  vesture. 

And  in  great  haggardness  they  shall  go  away  into  eternal 
expatriation;  while  among  the  queens  of  heavenly  society 
will  be  found  Vashti,  who  wore  the  modest  veil  before  the 
palatial  bacchanalians;  and  Hannah,  who  annually  made  a 
little  coat  for  Samuel  at  the  temple;  and  Grandmother  Lois, 
the  ancestress  of  Timothy,  who  imitated  her  virtue;  and 
Mary,  who  gave  Jesus  Christ  to  the  world;  and  many  of  you, 
the  wives  and  mothers  and  sisters  and  daughters  of  the 
present  Christian  Church,  who  through  great  tribulation  are 
entering  into  the  kingdom  of  God.  Christ  announced  who 
would  make  up  the  royal  family  of  heaven  when  he  said, 
"Whosoever  doeth  the  will  of  God,  the  same  is  my  brother, 
my  sister,  my  mother." 


CHAPTEE  XIX. 


EXTRAVAGANCE  OE   MODERN  SOCIETY. 

Isaiah  describes  the  voluptuousness  of  an  ancient  city — 
the  description,  with  a  very  little  variation,  is  as  appropriate 
to  New  York,  Brooklyn  and  Chicago  as  to  Jerusalem  and 
Tyre.  One  might  think  that  he  had  had  before  him  the 
fashion-plates,  and  the  head-dresses,  and  the  jewel-caskets, 
and  the  dancing-schools,  and  the  drawing-room  parties  of 
the  present  day,  and  that  he  foresaw  Saratoga  and  Brighton 
and  Long  Branch.  Through  this  same  description  we  also 
see  the  masculine  extravagance  and  dissipation  which  always 
correspond  with  the  feminine.  Women  may  have  greater 
varieties  of  apparel,  but  she  lives  a  quieter  life,  and,  there- 
fore, may  have  the  great  varieties  and  luxuries  of  dress  with- 
out impediment.  Men  would  wear  as  much,  if  they  knew 
how  without  interfering  with  their  wordly  occupations.  The 
rough  jostling  of  life  is  inimical  to  a  man's  dragging  a  dress- 
trail  two  yards  in  length,  or  pending  from  his  ear  a  diamond 
cluster.  In  the  old  time,  as  well  as  in  all  ages  of  the  world, 
the  two  sexes  were  alike  in  moralities  or  immoralities.  While 
in  parlor  sentimentalities  it  is  well  that  men  defer  to  women, 
and  women  defer  to  men,  in  the  presence  of  God,  and  in  the 
light  of  eternal  responsibilities,  the  sexes  are  equal. 

Isaiah  takes  us  twenty-five  hundred  years  back,  and  sets 
us  down  in  an  ancient  city.  It  is  a  bright  day,  and  the 
ladies  are  all  out.  The  procession  of  men  and  women  is  mov- 
ing up  and  down  the  gay  streets.  It  is  the  height  of  the 
fashionable  season.  The  sensible  people  move  with  so  much 
modesty  that  they  do  not  attract  our  attention.  But  here 
come  the  haughty  daughters  of  Jerusalem.    They  lean  for- 

(260i 


EXTRAVAGANCE   OF  MODERN  SOCIETY.  261 

ward;  they  lean  very  much  forward;  so  far  forward  as  to  he 


unnatural — teetering,  wohhling,  wriggling,  flirting,  or,  as  he 


262  EXTRAVAGANCE  OF  MODERN  SOCIETY. 


describes  it,  they  "  walk  with  stretched  forth  necks,  walking 
and  mincing  as  they  go."  They  have  spent  hours  before  the 
mirror  ere  starting  from  home,  and  have  in  most  astounding 
style  arranged  their  bonnets  and  their  veils  and  their  entire 
apparel,  and  now  go  through  the  streets,  taking  more  of  the 
pavement  than  they  are  entitled  to,  sweeping  along  with 
skirts,  "  round  tires  like  the  moon."  See!  that  is  a  princess! 
Look!  that  is  a  Damascus  sword-maker!  Look!  that  is  a 
Syrian  merchant!  The  jingling  of  the  chains,  and  the  flash- 
ing of  the  head-bands,  and  the  exhibitions  of  universal  swag- 
ger attract  the  attention  of  the  prophet,  and  he  brings  his 
camera  to  bear  upon  the  scene,  and  takes  a  picture  for  all 
the  ages.  But  where  is  that  scene  ?  Vanished.  Where  are 
those  gay  streets?  Vermin- covered  population  pass  through 
them.  Where  are  the  hands,  and  the  necks,  and  the  fore- 
heads, and  the  shoulders,  and  the  feet  that  sported  all  that 
magnificence  ?    Ashes !    Ashes ! 

I  am  going  to  write  of  the  God-defying  extravagance  of 
modern  society.  For  the  refinements  and  the  elegancies  and 
adornments  of  life,  I  cast  my  vote.  While  I  was  thinking 
over  this  subject,  there  was  handed  into  my  house  a  basket 
of  flowers,  paradisiacal  in  their  beauty.  Whifce-calla  with  a 
green  background  of  begonia;  heliotropes  nestling  among 
geraniums;  sepal,  corolla,  and  perianth  showed  the  touch  of 
God's  fingers.  In  the  snow  of  the  camellia,  in  the  fire-dye  of 
the  rose,  in  the  sky-blue  of  the  English  violet,  I  learned  that 
God  loves  adornment.  He  might  have  made  this  earth  so  as 
to  satisfy  the  gross  demands  of  sense,  but  left  it  without 
adornment  or  attraction.  Instead  of  the  variegated  colors  of 
the  season,  the  earth  might  have  worn  a  dress  of  unchanging 
dull  brown.  The  trees  might  have  put  forth  their  fruit  with- 
out the  prophesy  of  leaf  or  blossom.  Niagara  might  have 
let  down  its  waters  in  gradual  descent  without  thunder  and 
winged  sprajr.  But  no.  Look  out,  on  some  summer  morn- 
ing, after  a  heavy  night-dew,  and  see  whether  or  not  God 


EXTRAVAGANCE  OF  MODERN  SOCIETY. 


263 


loves  jewels.  Put  a  snow-flake  under  a  microscope,  and  see 
whether  God  does  not  love  exquisite  architecture.  He  de- 
creed that  the  breast-plate  of  the  priest  in  olden  time  should 
have  a  wreath  of  gold,  and  the  hem  of  his  garment  should  be 
worked  in  to  figures  of  pomegranate.  When  the  world  sleeps 
God  blankets  it  with  the  brilliants  of  the  night  sky,  and  when  it 
wakes  he  washes  it  in  the  burnished  laver  of  the  sunrise. 

But  it  is  absolutely  necessary  that  we  draw  a  line  between 
that  which  is  the  lawful  use  of  beautiful  adornment  and  that 
extravagance  which  is  the  source  of  so  much  crime,  wretch- 
edness and  abomination  in  our  day.  That  is  sinful  extra- 
vagance when  you  go  into  anything  beyond  your  means.  That 
which  is  right  for  one  may  be  wrong  for  another.  That  which 
is  lawful  expense  for  a  queen  may  be  sinful  outlay  for  a 
duchess.  That  which  may  be  economy  for  you  with  larger  in- 
come may  be  squandering  for  me  with  smaller  income.  But 
when  men  and  women  cross  over  the  line  which  separates 
between  what  they  can  pay  for,  and  still  keep  a  sufficiency  to 
meet  moral  obligation  on  the  one  hand,  and,  on  the  other 
hand,  that  extravagance  which  one's  means  cannot  compass, 
they  have  passed  from  the  innocent  into  the  culpable. 
Across  that  line  have  gone  "a  multitude  that  no  man  can 
number." 

We  judge  of  what  we  ought  to  have  by  what  other  peo- 
ple have.  If  they  have  a  sumptuous  table,  and  fine  resi- 
dence, and  gay  turn-out,  and  exquisite  apparel,  and  brilliant 
surroundings,  we  must  have  them,  irrespective  of  our  capa- 
city to  stand  the  expense.  We  throw  ourselves  down  in  de- 
spair because  other  people  have  a  seal-skin  coat,  and  we 
have  an  ordinary  one ;  because  others  have  diamonds,  and 
we  have  garnets;  because  others  have  Axminster,  and  we 
have  Brussels;  because  others  have  lambrequins,  and  we 
have  plain  curtains.  What  others  have  we  mean  to  have 
anyhow.  So  there  are  families  hardly  able  to  pay  their 
rent,  and  in  debt  to  every  merchant  in  the  neighborhood, 


264  EXTRAVAGANCE   OF  MODERN  SOCIETY. 


who  sport  apparel  inapt  for  their  circumstances,  and  run  so 
near  the  shore  that  the  first  misfortune  in  business  or  the 
first  besiegement  of  sickness  tosses  them  into  pauperism. 
There  are  thousands  of  families  moving  from  neighborhood 
to  neighborhood,  staying  long  enough  in  each  one  to  exhaust 
all  their  capacity  to  get  trusted.    They  move  away  because 


"A  SUMPTUOUS  TABLE."-Page  263. 


the  druggists  will  give  them  no  more  medicine,  and  the 
butchers  will  afford  them  no  more  meat,  and  the  bakers  will 
give  them  no  more  bread,  and  the  grocers  will  furnish  them 
no  more  sugar  until  they  pay  up.  Then  they  suddenly  find 
out  that  the  neighborhood  is  unhealthy,  and  they  hire  a  cart- 
man,  whom  they  never  pay,  to  take  them  to  a  part  of  the 
city  where  all  the  druggists  and  butchers  and  bakers  and 
grocers  will  be  glad  to  see  them  come  in,  and  send  to  them 
the  best  rounds  of  beef,  and  the  best  coffee,  and  the  best  of 
everything,  until  the  slight  suspicion  comes  into  their  brain 
that  all  the  pay  they  will  ever  get  from  their  customer  is  the 
honor  of  his  society.    There  are  about  five  thousand  such 


EXTRAVAGANCE  OF  MODERN  SOCIETY.  265 

thieves  in  Brooklyn.  You  see  I  call  it  by  a  plain  name,  be- 
cause when  a  man  buys  a  thing  that  he  does  not  expect  to 
pay  for  he  is  a  thief. 

There  are  circumstances  where  men  can  not  meet  their 
obligations.  It  is  as  honest  for  some  men  to  fail  as  it  is  for 
other  men  to  succeed.  They  do  their  best,  and  through  the 
misfortunes  of  life  they  are  thrown,  and  they  can  not  pay 
their  debts.  That  is  one  thing ;  but  when  you  go  and  pur- 
chase an  article  for  which  you  know  there  is  no  proba- 
bility of  your  ever  making  recompense,  you  are  a  villain! 
Why  don't  you  save  the  time  of  the  merchant,  and 
the  expense  of  an  accountant  for  him?  Why  don't  you 
go  down  some  day  to  his  store,  and  when  no  one  is  look- 
ing, shoulder  the  ham  and  the  spare-rib,  and  in  modest 
silence  take  them  along  with  you?  That  would  be  a  lesser 
crime;' for  now  you  get  not  only  the  merchant's  goods,  but 
you  get  his  time,  and  you  rouse  up  his  expectations.  If  you 
must  steal,  steal  so  it  will  be  the  least  possible  damage  to 
the  trader.  John  Randolph  arose  in  the  American  Senate, 
and  stretching  himself  up  to  full  height,  cried  out,  with  a 
shrill  voice:  "  Mr.  Chairman,  I  have  found  the  philosopher's 
stone  that  turns  everything  into  gold :  Pay  as  you  go. " 

Society  has  to  be  reconstructed  on  this  subject;.  You 
have  no  right  to  ride  in  a  carriage  when  you  owe  the  wheel- 
right  who  furnished  the  landau,  and  the  horse-dealer  who 
provided  the  blooded  span,  and  the  harness-maker  who 
caparisoned  the  gay  steeds,  and  the  livery-man  who  fur- 
nished the  stabling,  and  the  driver  who  sits  with  rosetted 
hat  on  your  coach-box.  I  am  glad  to  see  you  ride.  The 
finer  your  horses  and  the  better  your  carriage  the  better  it 
pleases  me.  But  if  you  are  in  debt  for  the  equipage,  and 
hopelessly  in  debt,  get  down  and  walk  like  the  rest  of  us. 
It  is  well  to  understand  that  it  is  not  the  absolute  necessi- 
ties that  we  find  it  so  hard  to  meet  but  the  fictitious  wants. 
God  promises  us  shelter,  but  not  a  palace;  and  raiment,  but 


266  EXTRAVAGANCE   OF  MODERN  SOCIETY. 

not  chinchilla;  and  food,  but  not  canvas-back  duck.  As 
long  as  we  have  enough  to  meet  the  positive  necessities  of 
life,  we  ought  to  be  content  until  we  can  afford  the  superflu- 
ities. As  soon  as  you  see  a  man  deliberately  consent  that 
his  outgo  shall  exceed  his  income,  you  may  know  he  has 
started  on  the  broad  road  to  bankruptcy  and  moral  ruin. 
The  young  man  who  came  from  the  oil  wells  in  Pennsylva- 
nia, having  gained  a  sudden  fortune  of  two  millions  of  dol- 
lars, and  then  ran  through  the  whole  of  it  in  less  than  two 
years,  illustrated  on  a  large  scale  what  some  of  you  are  do- 
ing on  a  small  scale. 

This  wholesale  extravagance  accounts  for  a  great  deal  of 
depression  in  national  finances.  Aggregates  are  made  up  of 
units,  and  so  long  as  one  half  the  people  of  this  country  are 
in  debt  to  the  other  half,  you  can  not  have  a  healthy  finan- 
cial condition.  The  national  resources  are  drawn  off,  not 
only  for  useless  extravagances,  but  for  those  that  are  posi- 
tively pernicious.  The  theaters  of  New  York  cost  that  city 
every  year  two  millions  of  dollars.  We  spend  in  this  coun- 
try one  hundred  millions  of  dollars  every  year  for  cigars 
and  tobacco.  In  the  United  States  we  expend  annually  one 
thousand  four  hundred  and  eighty-three  millions  of  dollars 
for  rum.  Now,  take  those  facts,  and  is  it  strange  that  our 
national  finances  are  crazed?  If  you  have  an  exportation  of 
breadstuffs  four  times  what  you  have  now,  and  an  importa- 
tion of  gold  four  times  what  you  have  now,  there  would  be 
no  permanent  prosperity  in  this  country  until  people  quit 
their  sinful  lavishment,  and  learn  honest  economy.  You 
charge  it  upon  Salmon  P.  Chase,  or  Boutwell,  or  other  Sec- 
retaries. I  charge  it  upon  you,  the  men  and  women  who 
are  living  beyond  your  means. 

This  wide-spread  extravagance  also  accounts  for  much 
of  the  crime.  It  is  the  source  of  many  abscondings,  bank- 
ruptcies, defalcations  and  knaveries.  The  store  on  Broadway 
and  the  office  on  Wall  street  are  swamped  by  the  residence 


EXTRAVAGANCE  OF  MODERN  SOCIETY. 


267 


on  Madison  square.  The  husband  and  father  has  his  craft 
capsized  because  he  carries  too  much  sail  of  point-lace  and 
Antille  guipure.  That  is  what  destroyed  Ketchum,  and 
Swartwout,  and  ten  thousand  men  not  so  famous.  That  is 
what  springs  the  leak  in  the  merchant's  money-till,  and  pulls 
down  your  trust  companies,  and  cracks  the  pistols  of  your 
suicides,  and  halts  this  nation  on  its  high  career  of  prosperity. 
I  arraign  this  monster  of  extravagance  in  the  sight  of  all  the 
people,  and  ask  you  to  pelt  it  with  your  scorn  and  denounce 
it  with  your  anathema. 

This  wide- spread  extravagance  also  accounts  for  much  of 
the  pauperism  in  the  country.  Who  are  the  individuals  and 
the  families  who  are  thrown  on  your  charity?  Who  has 
sinned  against  them  so  that  they  suffer?  It  is  often  the  case 
that  their  parents,  or  their  grand  parents,  had  all  luxuries, 
lived  everything  up,  more  than  lived  everything  up,  and  then 
died,  leaving  their  families  in  want.  The  grand  parents  of 
these  beggars  supped  on  Burgundy  and  woodcock.  There  are  a 
great  many  families  who  have  every  luxury  in  life,  yet  expend 
every  dollar  that  comes  in,  and  perhaps  a  few  dollars  more) 
not  even  taking  the  common  Christian  prudence  of  having 
their  lives  insured.  While  they  live  all  is  well,  but  when 
they  die  their  children  are  pitched  into  the  street.  I  tell  you 
a  man  has  no  right  to  die  under  such  circumstances.  It  is 
grand  larceny,  even  his  death.  If  a  man  has  been  industrious 
and  economical,  and  has  not  a  farthing  to  leave  his  children 
as  he  goes  away  from  them,  he  has  a  right  to  put  them  in  the 
hands  of  the  Father  of  the  Fatherless,  and  know  they  will 
be  cared  for;  but  if  you,  with  every  comfort  in  life,  are  lavish 
and  improvident,  and  then  depart  this  life  leaving  your  chil- 
dren to  be  hurled  into  pauperism,  you  deserve  to  have  your 
bones  sold  to  the  medical  museum  for  anatomical  specimens, 
the  proceeds  to  furnish  your  children  bread.  Some  of  you 
are  making  a  great  swash  in  life,  and  after  a  while  will  die, 
leaving  your  families  beggars,  and  you  will  expect  us  min- 


268  EXTRAVAGANCE   OF  MODERN  SOCIETY. 


isters  of  the  Gospel  to  come  and  stand  by  your  coffin,  and  lie 
about  your  excellencies ;  but  we  will  not  do  it.  If  you  send 
for  me,  I  will  tell  you  what  my  text  will  be:  "He  that  pro- 
videth  not  for  his  own,  and  especially  for  those  of  his  own 
household,  is  worse  than  an  infidel." 

In  this  day,  God  has  mercifully  allowed  those  of  us  who 
have  limited  income  to  make  provision  for  our  families* 


THE  PROVIDENT  FATHER. 

through  the  great  life  insurance  companies  all  over  the  land. 
By  some  self-denial  on  our  part,  we  can  make  this  provision 
for  those  whom  we  shall  leave  behind  us.  Is  there  anything 
so  helpless  as  a  woman  whose  husband  has  just  died,  when, 
with  children  at  her  back,  she  goes  out  in  this  day  to  fight 
for  bread?  Shall  she  become  a  menial  servant  in  some  one 
else's  household?  No;  not  the  one  that  has  been  lying  on 
your  arm  all  these  years,  and  filling  the  household  with  joy 


EXTRAVAGANCE   OF  MODERN  SOCIETY. 


269 


and  light.  Shall  she  sew  for  a  living?  God  knows  that  they 
get  but  six  cents  and  eight  cents  for  making  one  garment. 
Ah  no !  you  had  better  have  your  coffin  made  large  enough  to 
take  them  all  with  you  to  that  land  where  they  never  freeze 
nor  starve.  How  a  man  with  no  surplus  of  estate,  but  still 
enough  money  to  pay  the  premium  on  a  life  insurance  policy  ? 
can  refuse  to  do  it,  and  then  look  his  children  in  the  face, 
and  say  his  prayers  at  night  on  going  to  bed,  expecting  them 
to  be  answered,  is  a  mystery  to  me  that  I  have  never  yet  been 
able  to  fathom. 

This  extravagance  is  becoming  more  and  more  wide- 
spread. A  statistician  has  estimated  that  there  are  in  New 
York  and  Brooklyn  four  thousand  five  hundred  women  who 
expend  annually  two  thousand  dollars  each  in  dress.  It  is 
no  rare  thing  when  the  wedding  march  sounds  to  see  dragging 
through  the  aisle  a  bridal  dress  that  has  cost  its  thousand  or 
fifteen  hundred  dollars.  Things  have  come  to  such  a  pass 
that  when  we  cry  over  sin  we  wipe  the  tears  away  with  a 
hundred-and-fifty  dollar  pocket-handkerchief.  The  tendency 
to  extravagance  was  illustrated  wonderfully  when  James 
Fisk,  jun.,  sent  the  bridal  presents  to  the  home  of  William 
M.  Tweed.  Fisk  sent  an  iceberg  of  frosted  silver,  polar  bears 
of  silver  lying  down  on  the  handles,  polar  bears  of  silver 
walking  over  the  gold  spoons.  There  were  in  the  house  that 
day  forty  silver  sets  of  imperial  magnificence.  There  was  a 
diamond  set  that  cost  forty-five  thousand  dollars.  There  was 
one  dress  that  had  in  it  thirty-seven  yards  of  silk,  with  three 
hundred  and  eighty-two  bows.  Hundreds  of  thousands  of 
dollars  expended  on  that  scene.  The  reason  we  have  not  a 
multitude  of  scenes  as  extravagant  is  because  we  have  not 
so  much  money. 

This  wicked  extravagance  shows  itself  no  more  forcibly 
than  on  the  funeral  day.  No  one  else  seems  willing  to  speak 
of  it,  so  I  shall.  There  has  been  many  a  man  who  has  died 
solvent,  but  has  been  insolvent  before  he  got  under  the 


270  EXTRAVAGANCE  OF  MODERN  SOCIETY. 


ground.  One  would  think  that  the  two  debts  most  sacred 
would  be  debts  to  the  physician  and  the  undertaker,  since 
they  are  the  last  two  debts  contracted;  and  yet  those  two 
professions  are  swindled  more  frequently  than  any  other. 
In  the  agitation  and  excitement  the  friends  come,  and  they 
want  extraordinary  attention,  and  they  want  extraordinary 
expenditure,  and  then,  when  the  sad  scene  is  past,  neglect  to 
make  compensation.  What  are  those  two  professions  to  do 
under  such  circumstances?  If  a  merchant  sells  goods,  and 
they  are  not  paid  for,  I  understand  he  can  reclaim  the  goods; 
but  if  a  man  departs  this  life,  and  through  his  friends, 
indebtedness  is  contracted  that  is  not  met,  there  seems  to 
be  no  relief,  for  the  patient  has  gone  off  with  the  doctor's 
pills  and  the  undertaker's  white  slippers.  Greenwood  and 
Laurel  Hill  and  Mount  Auburn  hold  to-day  thousands  of 
such  swindles. 

A  man  dies.  He  has  lived  a  fictitious  life,  moved 
amidst  splendor,  and  dies  leaving  his  family  not  a  dollar ; 
but  they,  poor  things !  must  keep  up  the  same  magnificence, 
and  so  they  resolve  upon  a  great  funeral.  The  obsequies 
shall  be  splendid!  The  expense  is  nearly  two  thousand  dol- 
lars for  getting  one  poor  mortal  to  his  last  home !  Perhaps 
it  would  have  been  all  well  if  they  had  been  able  to  meet  the 
expenditure;  but  when  it  was  known  they  could  not,  it  was 
a  villainy.  There  are  families  that  you  know  who,  in  the 
effort  to  meet  the  ridiculous,  outrageous,  and  wicked  customs 
of  society  in  regard  to  obsequies,  have  actually  reduced 
themselves  to  penury.  They  put  their  last  dollar  in  the 
ground.  There  is  in  England  what  they  call  a  funeral  re- 
form. It  is  high  time  we  had  such  a  reform  society  in  our 
own  country. 

This  wide- spread  extravagance  accounts,  also,  for  the 
poverty  of  religious  institutions.  Men  pay  so  much  for  show 
they  have  nothing  for  God  and  religion.  We  pay  in  this 
country  twenty-two  millions  of  dollars  for  the  great  benevo- 


EXTRAVAGANCE   OF  MODERN  SOCIETY 


271 


lent  societies;  but  what  are  twenty-two  millions  of  dollars, 
compared  with  the  one  hundred  millions  for  cigars  and  tobacco, 
and  the  one  thousand  four  hundred  and  eighty-three  millions 
for  drink?  How  do  you  like  the  comparison?  Great  lavish- 
ment  for  the  world;  great  niggardliness  for  God. 

Let  us  set  ourselves  in  battle  array  against  this  God-defy- 
ing extravagance.  Buy  not  those  things  which  are  frivolous, 
when  you  may  after  a  while  be  in  lack  of  the  necessities. 
Buy  not  books  you  will  never  read,  nor  pictures  you  will 
never  study.  Put  not  a  whole  month's  wages  into  one  trinket. 
Keep  your  credit  good  by  seldom  or  never  asking  for  any. 
Pay.  Starve  not  a  whole  year  so  as  to  be  able  to  afford  one 
Belshazzar  carnival.  Do  not  buy  a  coat  of  many  colors,  and 
then  in  six  months  be  out  at  the  elbows.  Do  not  pay  so  much 
for  a  muffler  for  the  neck,  and  be  almost  bare-footed.  Flourish 
not,  as  some  I  know  of,  in  elegant  hotels  with  drawing-room 
apartments,  and  then  vanish  in  the  night,  not  even  leaving 
your  compliments  for  the  landlord. 

In  the  great  day,  we  will  have  to  give  an  account  not  only 
for  how  we  made  our  money,  but  for  how  we  spent  it.  When 
so  many  are  suffering,  and  there  is  want  before  us  and  want 
behind  us  and  want  on  either  side  of  us,  let  us  quit  our  waste. 
Men  and  women  of  God,  I  call  upon  you  to  set  a  Christian 
example.  Bemember  that  soon  you  will  have  to  leave  your 
wardrobe  and  equipage.  I  do  not  want  you  to  feel  on  that 
day  like  the  dying  actress,  who  ordered  up  her  casket  of 
jewels,  and  then  with  her  pale,  dying  hand  rolled  them  over, 
and  said,  "Alas!  that  I  must  give  you  up  so  soon."  In  that 
day,  better  have  one  treasure  in  heaven,  just  one,  than  to 
have  had  the  bridal  trousseau  of  a  Queen  Maria  Louisa,  or  to 
have  sat  with  Caligula  at  a  banquet  which  cost  four  hundred 
thousand  dollars,  or  to  have  been  carried  out  in  a  pageant 
with  senators  and  princes  for  pall- bearers.  They  who  con- 
secrate to  God  their  time,  their  talents,  and  their  all,  shall 
be  held  in  everlasting  remembrance,  while  the  name  of  the 
wicked  shall  rot. 


CHAPTER  XX. 


CLUBS. 

I  am  asked,  What  is  the  influence  of  club-houses  in 
America?  Men  are  gregarious.  Cattle  in  herds.  Birds  in 
flocks.  Fish  in  schools.  The  human  race  in  social  circles. 
You  may  by  discharge  of  gun  scatter  the  flock  of  quails,  and 
you  may  by  plunge  of  the  anchor  send  apart  the  denizens  of 
the  deep;  but  they  will  re-assemble.  And  if  by  some  power 
you  could  scatter  all  the  present  associations  of  men,  they 
would  again  re-assemble.  Herbs  and  flowers  prefer  to  stand 
in  associations.  You  plant  a  forget-me-not  or  a  heart's-ease 
away  up  alone  on  the  hillside,  and  it  will  soon  hunt  up  some 
other  hearths-ease  or  forget-me-not.  You  find  the  herbs 
talking  to  each  other  in  the  morning  dew.  A  galaxy  of  stars 
is  a  mutual  life  insurance  company.  Once  in  a  while  you 
find  a  man  unsympathetic  and  alone,  and  like  a  ship's  mast, 
ice-glazed,  which  the  most  agile  sailor  could  not  climb;  but 
the  most  of  men  have  in  their  nature  a  thousand  roots  and  a 
thousand  branches,  and  they  blossom  all  the  way  to  the  top, 
and  the  fowls  of  heaven  sing  amid  the  branches.  Because 
of  this  we  have  communities  and  societies — some  for  the 
kindling  of  mirth,  some  for  the  raising  of  sociality,  some  for 
the  advance  of  a  craft,  some  to  plan  for  the  welfare  of  the 
State — associations  of  artists,  of  merchants,  of  shipwrights, 
of  carpenters,  of  masons,  of  plumbers,  of  plasterers,  of  law- 
yers, of  doctors,  of  clergymen.  Do  you  cry  out  against  this? 
Then  you  cry  out  against  a  divine  arrangement. 

You  might  as  well  preach  to  a  busy  ant-hill  or  bee-hive 
against  secret  societies.  In  many  of  the  ages  people  have  gath- 
ered together  in  associations,  characterized  by  the  old,  blunt 

(272) 


CLUBS. 


273 


Saxon  desigation  of  club.  If  ycra  have  read  history,  you  know 
there  were  the  King's  Head  Club,  and  the  Ben  Johnson  Club, 
and  the  Brothers'  Club — to  which  Swift  and  Boling broke 
belonged — and  the  Literary  Club,  which  Burke  and  Goldsmith 
and  Johnson  and  Boswell  made  immortal ;  and  Jacobin  Club, 


RECEPTION  ROOM,  CHICAGO  CLUB. 


and  Benjamin  Franklin  Junto  Club,  and  others  almost  as  cele- 
brated and  conspicuous.  Some  to  advance  arts,  some  to 
vindicate  justice,  some  to  promote  good  literature,  pome  to 
destroy  the  body  and  blast  the  soul.  In  our  own  time  we 
bave  many  clubs.    They  are  as  different  from  each  other  as 


274 


CLUBS. 


the  day  from  the  night.  I  might  show  you  two  specimens. 
Here  is  the  imperial  hallway.  On  this  side  is  the  parlor, 
with  the  upholstery  of  a  Kremlin  or  a  Tuileries.  Here  is  a 
dining-room  which  challenges  you  to  mention  any  luxury  it 
cannot  afford.  Here  is  an  art  gallery  with  pictures  and 
statues  and  drawings  from  the  best  of  artists — Bierstadt  and 
Church  and  Cole  and  Powers  — pictures  for  all  moods, 
impassioned  or  placid — Sheridan's  Eide  and  Farmers  at  their 
■  Nooning.  Shipwreck  and  Sunlight  over  the  Seas.  Foaming 
deer  with  the  kounds  after  it  in  the  Adirondacks.  Sheep 
asleep  on  the  hill- side.  And  here  are  reading-rooms  with 
the  finest  of  magazines,  and  libraries  with  all  styles  of  books, 
from  hermeneutics  to  fairy  tale.  Men  go  there  for  ten  min- 
utes or  for  many  hours.  Some  come  from  beautiful  and 
happy  home  circles  for  a  little  while  that  they  may  enter  into 
these  club-house  socialities.  Others  come  from  dismembered 
households,  and  while  they  have  humble  lodgings  elsewhere, 
find  their  chief  joy  here.  One  blackball  amid  ten  votes  will 
defeat  a  man's  membership.  For  rowdyism  and  gambling 
and  drunkenness  and  every  style  of  misdemeanor  a  man  is 
immediately  dropped.  Brilliant  club-house  from  top  to 
bottom — the  chandeliers,  the  plate,  the  literature,  the  social 
prestige  a  complete  enchantment. 

Here  is  another  club  house.  You  open  the  door,  and  the 
fumes  of  strong  drink  and  tobacco  are  something  almost  in- 
tolerable. You  do  not  have  to  ask  what  those  young  men 
are  doing,  for  you  can  see  by  the  flushed  cheek  and  intent 
look  and  almost  angry  way  of  tossing  the  dice  and  dropping 
the  chips,  they  are  gambling.  That  is  an  only  son  seated 
there  at  another  table.  He  has  had  all  art,  all  culture,  all 
refinement  showered  upon  him  by  his  parents.  That  is  the 
way  he  is  paying  them  for  their  kindness.  That  is  a  young 
married  man.  A  few  months  ago  he  made  promises  of  fidel- 
ity and  kindness,  every  one  of  which  he  has  broken. 
Around  a  table  in  the  club-house  there  is  a  group  telling  vile 


CLUBS. 


275 


stories.  It  is  getting  late  now,  and  three-fourths  of  the 
members  of  the  club  are  intoxicated.  It  is  between  twelve 
and  one  o'clock,  and  after  a  while  it  is  time  to  shut  up.  The 
conversation  has  got  to  be  grovelling,  base,  filthy,  outrage- 
ous. Time  to  shut  up.  The  young  men  saunter  forth,  those 
who  can  walk,  and  balance  themselves  against  the  lamp-post 
or  the  fence.  A  young  man  not  able  to  get  out  has  a  couch 
extemporized  for  him  in  the  club-house,  or  by  two  comrades 
not  quite  so  overcome  by  strong  drink,  he  is  led  to  his  father's 
house,  and  the  door- bell  rung,  and  these  two  imbecile  escorts 
usher  into  the  front  hall  the  ghastliest  thing  ever  ushered 
into  a  father's  house — a  drunken  son.  There  are  dissipat- 
ing club-houses,  which  would  do  well  if  they  could  make  a 
contract  with  Inferno  to  furnish  ten  thousand  men  a  year, 
and  do  that  for  twenty  years,  on  the  condition  that  no  more 
would  be  asked  of  them.  They  would  save — the  dissipating 
club-houses  of  this  country  would  save — hundreds  of  home- 
steads, and  bodies,  minds,  and  souls  innumerable.  The  ten 
thousand  they  furnish  a  year  by  contract  would  be  small 
when  compared  with  the  vaster  multitudes  they  furnish  with- 
out contract.  But  I  make  a  vast  difference  between  the 
club  houses.  I  have  during  my  life  belonged  to  four  clubs 
— a  baseball  club,  a  theological  club,  and  two  literary  clubs. 
They  were  to  me  physical  recuperation,  mental  food,  moral 
health. 

Now,  what  is  the  principle  by  which  we  are  to  judge  in 
regard  to  the  profitable  or  baleful  influence  of  a  club-house? 
That  is  the  practical  and  the  eternal  question  which  hun- 
dreds of  men  to-day  are  settling.  First,  I  would  have  you 
test  your  club-house  by  the  influence  it  has  upon  your  home, 
if  you  have  a  home.  I  have  been  told  by  a  prominent  member 
of  one  of  the  clubs  that  three  fourths  of  the  members  are  mar- 
ried men.  That  wife  has  lost  her  influence  with  her  husband 
who  takes  every  evening's  absence  as  an  assault  upon  domes- 
ticity.   How  are  the  great  enterprises  of  art  and  literature 


276 


CLUBS. 


and  education  and  public  weal  to  go  on  if  every  man  has  his 
world  bounded  by  his  front  doorstep  on  one  side  and  his  back 
window  on  the  other,  his  thoughts  rising  no  higher  than  his 
own  attic,  going  down  no  deeper  than  his  own  cellar? 
When  a  wife  objects  to  a  husband's  absence  for  some  ele- 
vating purpose,  she  breaks  her  scepter  of  conjugal  power. 
There  should  be  no  protest  on  the  part  of  the  wife  if  the 
husband  goes  forth  to  some  practical,  useful,  honorable  mis- 
sion. But,  alas!  for  the  fact  that  so  many  men  sacrifice  all 
home-life  for  the  club-house.  I  have  in  my  house  the  roll 
of  the  members  of  many  of  the  clubs  of  our  great  cities,  and 
I  could  point  you  to  the  names  of  many  who  have  commit- 
ted this  awful  sacrilege.  Genial  as  angels  at  the  club-house, 
ugly  as  sin  at  home.  Generous  to  a  fault  for  all  wine  sup- 
pers and  yachts  and  horse  races,  but  stingy  about  the  wife's 
dress  and  the  children's  shoes.  That  which  might  have 
been  a  healthful  recreation  has  become  a  usurpation  of  his 
affections,  and  he  has  married  it  and  he  is  guilty  of  moral 
bigamy. 

Under  that  process,  whatever  be  the  wife's  features,  she 
becomes  uninteresting  and  homely.  He  criticises  every- 
thing about  her.  He  does  not  like  her  dress,  he  does  not 
like  the  way  she  arranges  her  hair,  he  cannot  see  how  he 
ever  was  so  unromantic  as  to  offer  his  hand  and  heart.  It  is 
all  the  time  talk  about  money,  money,  money,  when  she 
ought  to  be  talking  about  Dexters  and  Derby  Days  and  En- 
glish drags,  with  six  horses  all  under  control  of  one  ribbon. 
There  are  hundreds  of  homes  being  clubbed  to  death. 

Membership  in  some  of  these  clubs  always  means  domes- 
tic shipwreck.  Tell  me  a  man  has  become  a  member  of  a 
certain  club,  and  tell  me  nothing  more  about  him  for  ten 
years,  and  I  will  write  his  accurate  biography.  By  that 
time  he  is  a  wine-guzzler,  and  his  wife  is  broken-hearted  or 
prematurely  old,  and  his  property  is  lost  or  reduced,  and  his 
home  is  a  mere  name  in  a  directory. 


ST.  LOUIS  JOCKEY  CLUB  HOUSE. 


278  clubs. 

Another  test  by  which  you  may  try  a  club-house,  is  the 
question,  What  is  the  influence  of  that  institution  upon  one's 
secular  occupation?  I  can  see  how  through  a  club-house 
men  may  advance  their  commercial  interests.  I  have 
friends  who  have  formed  their  best  mercantile  relations 
through  such  institutions.  But  what  has  been  the  influence 
of  the  one  with  which  you  are  connected  upon  your  worldly 
credit?  Are  people  more  cautious  now  how  they  let  you 
have  goods?  Before  you  joined  the  club  was  your  credit 
with  the  commercial  agency,  Ai?  and  has  it  gone  clear  down 
in  the  scale?  Then  beware!  We  every  day  hear  the  going 
to  pieces  of  commercial  establishments  through  the  dissipa- 
tions of  some  club-house  libertine  or  club  house  drunkard 
who  has  wasted  his  estate,  and  wasted  the  estates  of  others. 
The  fortune  is  beaten  to  pieces  with  the  ball-player's  bat,  or 
cut  amidship  by  the  prow  of  a  regatta,  or  falls  under  the  sharp 
hoof  of  the  fast  horse,  or  is  drowned  in  the  potions  of  Cog- 
nac and  Monongahela.  The  man's  club  house  was  the  Loch 
Earn,  his  occupation  was  the  Ville  du  Havre.  They  struck 
on  the  high  seas,  and  the  Ville  du  Havre  went  under. 

Another  test  by  which  you  may  try  all  the  club-houses  is 
the  question.  What  influence  will  that  institution  have  upon 
my  sense  of  moral  and  spiritual  obligation?  Now,  here  are 
two  roads  into  the  future,  the  Christian  and  the  unchristian, 
the  safe  and  the  unsafe.  Any  institution  or  any  association 
that  confuses  my  idea  in  regard  to  that  fact  is  a  bad  institu- 
tion and  a  bad  association.  I  had  prayers  before  I  joined 
the  club.  Did  I  have  them  after?  I  attended  the  house  of 
God  before  I  connected  myself  with  the  club.  Since  that 
union  with  the  club  do  I  absent  myself  from  religious  influ- 
ences? Which  would  you  rather  have  in  your  hand  when 
you  come  to  die,  a  pack  of  cards  or  a  Bible?  Which  would 
you  rather  have  pressed  to  your  lips  in  the  closing  moment, 
the  cup  of  Belshazzarean  wassail  or  the  chalice  of  Christian 
communion?    Who  would  you  rather  have  for  your  pall- 


CLUBS. 


279 


bearers,  the  elders  of  a  Christian  church,  or  the  companions 
whose  conversation  was  full  of  slang  and  innuendo?  Who 
would  you  rather  have  for  your  eternal  companions,  those 
men  who  spend  their  evenings  betting,  gambling,  swearing, 
carousing,  and  telling  vile  stories,  or  your  little  child,  that 
bright  girl  whom  the  Lord  took? 

Let  me  say  to  fathers  who  are  becoming  dissipated,  your 
sons  will  follow  you.  You  think  your  son  does  not  know. 
He  knows  all  about  it.  I  have  heard  men  who  say,  "I  am 
profane,  but  never  in  the  presence  of  my  children."  Your 
children  know  you  swear.  I  have  heard  men  say,  "I  drink, 
but  never  in  the  presence  of  my  children."  Your  children 
know  you  drink.  I  describe  now  what  occurs  in  hundreds  of 
households  in  this  country.  The  tea-hour  has  arrived.  The 
family  are  seated  at  the  tea-table.  Before  the  rest  of  the 
family  arise  from  the  table,  the  father  shoves  back  his  chair, 
says  he  has  an  engagement,  lights  a  cigar,  goes  out,  comes 
back  after  midnight,  and  that  is  the  history  of  three  hundred 
and  sixty-five  nights  of  the  year.  Does  any  man  want  to 
stultify  himself  by  saying  that  that  is  healthy,  that  that  is 
right,  that  that  is  honorable?  Would  your  wife  have  mar- 
ried you  with  such  prospects? 

Time  will  pass  on,  and  the  son  will  be  sixteen  or  seven- 
teen years  of  age,  and  you  will  be  at  the  tea-table,  and  he 
shove  back  and  have  an  engagement,  and  he  will  light  his 
cigar,  and  he  will  go  out  to  the  club-house,  and  you  will  hear 
nothing  of  him  until  you  hear  the  night  key  in  the  door  after 
midnight.  But  his  physical  constitution  is  not  quite  as 
strong  as  yours,  and  the  liquor  he  drinks  is  more  terriffically 
drugged  than  that  which  you  drink,  and  so  he  will  catch  up 
with  you  on  the  road  to  death,  though  you  got  such  a  long 
start  of  him,  and  so  you  will  both  go  to  hell  together. 

The  revolving  Drummond  light  in  front  of  a  hotel,  in 
front  of  a  locomotive,  may  flash  this  way,  and  flash  that, 
upon  the  mountains,  upon  the  ravines,  upon  the  city;  but  I 


280 


CLUBS. 


take  the  lamp  of  God's  eternal  truth,  and  I  flash  it  upon  all 
the  club-houses  of  these  cities,  so  that  no  young  man  shall 
be  deceived.  By  these  tests  try  them,  try  them!  Oh,  leave 
the  dissipating  influences  of  the  club-room,  if  the  influences 
of  your  club-room  are  dissipating!  Paid  your  money,  have 
you?  Better  sacrifice  that  than  your  soul.  Good  fellows, 
are  they?  Under  that  process  they  will  not  remain  such. 
Mollusca  may  be  found  two  hundred  fathoms  down  beneath 
the  Norwegian  seas ;  Siberian  stag  get  fat  on  the  stunted 
growth  of  Altain  peaks;  Hedysarium  grows  amid  the  desola- 
tion of  Sahara;  tufts  of  osier  and  birch  grow  on  the  hot  lips 
of  volcanic  Sneehattan ;  but  a  pure  heart  and  an  honest  life 
thrive  in  a  dissipating  club-house — never ! 

The  way  to  conquer  a  wild  beast  is  to  keep  your  eye  on 
him,  but  the  way  for  you  to  conquer  your  temptations,  my 
friend,  is  to  turn  your  back  on  them  and  fly  for  your  life. 

Oh,  my  heart  aches!  I  see  men  struggling  against  evil 
habits,  and  they  want  help.  I  have  knelt  beside  them,  and 
I  have  heard  them  cry  for  help,  and  then  we  have  risen,  and 
he  has  put  one  hand  on  my  right  shoulder,  and  the  other 
hand  on  my  left  shoulder,  and  looked  into  my  face  with  an 
infinity  of  earnestness  which  the  judgment  day  will  have  no 
power  to  make  me  forget,  as  he  has  cried  out  with  his  lips 
scorched  in  ruin,  "God  help  me!"  For  such  there  is  no 
help  except  in  the  Lord  God  Almighty.  To  His  grace  I 
commend  you. 


SUMMERING. 


CHAPTER  XXL 


WATERING— PLACES. 

Outside  of  the  city  of  Jerusalem,  there  was  a  sensitive 
watering-place,  the  popular  resort  for  invalids.  To  this  day, 
there  is  a  dry  basin  of  rock  which  shows  that  there  must 
have  been  a  pool  there  three  hundred  and  sixty  feet  long,  one 
hundred  and  thirty  feet  wide,  and  seventy-five  feet  deep. 
This  pool  was  surrounded  by  five  piazzas,  or  porches,  or 
bathing-houses,  where  the  patients  tarried  until  the  time 
when  they  were  to  step  into  the  water.  So  far  as  reinvigora- 
tion  was  concerned,  it  must  have  been  a  Saratoga  and  a 
Long  Branch  on  a  small  scale;  a  Leamington  and  a  Brighton 
combined — medical  and  therapeutic.  Tradition  says  that  at 
a  certain  season  of  the  year  there  was  an  officer  of  the  gov- 
ernment who  would  go  down  to  that  water  and  pour  in  it 
some  healing  quality,  and  after  that  the  people  would  come 
and  get  the  medication ;  but  I  prefer  the  plain  statement  of 
Scripture,  that  at  a  certain  season,  an  angel  came  down  and 
stirred  up  or  troubled  the  water;  and  then  the  people  came 
and  got  the  healing.  That  angel  of  God  that  stirred  up  the 
Judean  watering-place  had  his  counterpart  in  the  angel  of 
healing  that,  in  our  day,  steps  into  the  mineral  waters  of 
Congress,  or  Sharon,  or  Sulphur  Springs,  or  into  the  salt  sea 
at  Cape  May  and  Nahant,  where  multitudes  who  are  worn  out 
with  commercial  and  professional  anxieties,  as  well  as  those 
who  are  afflicted  with  rheumatism,  neuralgic,  and  splenetic 
diseases,  go,  and  are  cured  by  the  thousands.  These  Bethes- 
das  are  scattered  all  up  and  down  our  country,  blessed  be 
God! 

We  are  at  a  seaSon  of  the  year  when  railway  trains  are 

(283) 


284 


WATERING -PLACE  S . 


being  laden  with  passengers  and  baggage  on  their  way  to  the 
mountains,  and  the  lakes,  and  the  sea-shore.    Multitudes  of 


our  citizens  are  packing  their  trunks  for  restorative  absence. 
The  city  heats  are  pursuing  the  people  with  torch  and  fear  of 


WATERING-PLACES. 


285 


sunstroke.  The  long  silent  halls  of  sumptuous  hotels  are 
all  abuzz  with  excited  arrivals.  The  crystalline  surface  of 
Winnepesaukee  is  shattered  with  the  stroke  of  steamers  laden 
with  excursionists.  The  antlers  of  Adirondack  deer  rattle 
under  the  shot  of  city  sportsmen.  The  trout  make  fatal 
snap  at  the  hook  of  adroit  sportsmen,  and  toss  their  spotted 
brilliance  into  the  game  basket.  Soon  the  baton  of  the 
orchestral  leader  will  tap  the  music-stand  on  the  hotel  green, 
and  American  life  will  put  on  festal  array,  and  the  rumb- 
ling of  the  tenpin  alley,  and  the  crack  of  the  ivory  balls  on 
the  green-baized  billiard  tables,  and  the  jolting  of  the  bar. 
room  goblets,  and  the  explosive  uncorking  of  champagne 
bottles,  and  the  whirl  and  the  rustle  of  the  ball-room  dance, 
and  the  clattering  hoofs  of  the  race-courses,  will  attest  that 
the  season  for  the  great  American  watering-places  is  fairly 
inaugurated.  Music!  Fluto,  and  drum,  and  cornet-a-piston, 
and  clapping  cymbals,  will  wake  the  echoes  of  the  mountains. 
Glad  I  am  that  fagged-out  American  life,  for  the  most  part, 
will  have  an  opportunity  to  rest,  and  that  nerves  racked  and 
destroyed  will  find  a  Bethesda. 

Let  not  the  commercial  firm  begrudge  the  clerk,  or  the 
employer  the  journeyman,  or  the  patient  the  physician,  or 
the  church  its  pastor,  a  season  of  inoccupation.  Luther 
used  to  sport  with  his  children;  Edmund  Burke  used  to 
caress  his  favorite  horse;  and  the  busy  Christ  said  to  the 
busy  apostles:  "Come  ye  apart  awhile  in  the  desert,  and  rest 
yourselves."  And  I  have  observed  that  they  who  do  not 
know  how  to  rest,  do  not  know  how  to  work. 

But  I  have  to  declare  this  truth,  that  some  of  our  fashion- 
able watering-places  are  the  temporal  and  eternal  destruction 
of  "a  multitude  that  no  man  can  number."  I  must  utter  a 
note  of  warning,  plain,  earnest  and  unmistakable.  The 
first  temptation  that  is  apt  to  hover  in  this  direction  is  to 
leave  your  piety  all  at  home.  You  will  send  the  dog,  and 
cat,  and  canary-bird  to  be  well  cared  for  somewhere  else;  but 


286 


WATERING-PLACES. 


the  temptation  will  be  to  leave  your  religion  in  the  room 
with  the  blinds  down  and  the  door  bolted,  and  then  you  will 
come  back  in  the  autumn  to  find  that  it  is  starved  and  suffo- 
cated, lying  stretched  on  the  rug,  stark  dead.  There  is  no 
surplus  of  piety  at  the  watering-places.  I  never  knew  any- 
one to  grow  very  rapidly  in  grace  at  the  Catskill  Mountain 
House,  or  Sharon  Springs,  or  the  Falls  of  Montmorency. 
It  is  generally  the  case  that  the  Sabbath  is  more  of  a  carousal 
than  any  other  day,  and  there  are  Sunday  walks,  Sunday 
rides,  and  Sunday  excursions.  Elders  and  deacons  and  min- 
isters of  religion,  who  are  entirely  consistent  at  home,  some- 
times when  the  Sabbath  dawns  on  them  at  Niagara  Falls  or 
the  White  Mountains,  take  the  day  to  themselves.  If  they 
go  to  the  church,  it  is  apt  to  be  a  sacred  parade,  and  the 
discourse,  instead  of  being  a  plain  talk  about  the  soul,  is  apt 
to  be  what  is  called  a  crack  sermon — that  is,  some  discourse 
picked  out  of  the  effusions  of  the  year  as  the  one  most 
adapted  to  excite  admiration ;  and  in  those  churches,  from 
the  way  the  ladies  hold  their  fans,  you  know  that  they  are 
not  so  much  impressed  with  the  heat  as  with  the  picturesque- 
feess  of  half  disclosed  features.  Four  puny  souls  stand  in 
the  organ  loft  and  squall  a  tune  that  nobody  knows,  and 
worshippers,  with  two  thousand  dollars  worth  of  diamonds 
on  the  right  hand,  drop  a  cent  into  the  poor-box,  and  then  the 
benediction  is  pronounced,  and  the  farce  is  ended. 

The  air  is  bewitched  with  the  "world,  the  flesh  and 
devil."  There  are  Christians  who,  in  three  or  four  weeks  in 
such  a  place,  have  had  such  terrible  rents  made  in  their 
Christian  robe,  that  they  had  to  keep  darning  it  until  Christ- 
mas to  get  it  mended.  The  health  of  a  great  many  people 
makes  an  annual  visit  to  some  mineral  spring  an  absolute 
necessity;  but  take  your  Bible  along  with  you,  and  take  an 
hour  for  secret  prayer  every  day,  though  you  be  surrounded 
by  guffaw  and  saturnalia.  Keep  holy  the  Sabbath,  though 
they  deride  you  as  a  bigoted  Puritan.    Stand  off  from  John 


WATERING-PLACES. 


287 


Morrissey's  gambling  hell  and  those  other  institutions  which 
propose  to  imitate  on  this  side  the  water  the  iniquities  of 
Baden-Baden.  Let  your  moral  and  immortal  health  keep 
pace  with  your  physical  recuperation  and  remember  that  all 
the  waters  of  Hathorne,  and  sulphur  and  chalybeate  springs 
cannot  do  you  so  much  good  as  the  mineral,  healing,  peren- 
nial flood  that  breaks  forth  from  the  "  Bock  of  Ages."  This 
may  be  your  last  summer.  If  so,  make  it  a  fit  vestibule  of 
heaven. 

Another  temptation  hovering  around  nearly  all  our 
watering-places  is  the  horse-racing  business.  We  all  admire 
the  horse ;  but  we  do  not  think  that  its  beauty  or  speed  ought 
to  be  cultured  at  the  expense  of  human  degredation.  The 
horse  race  is  not  of  such  importance  as  the  human  race. 
The  Bible  intimates  that  a  man  is  better  than  a  sheep,  and 
I  suppose  he  is  better  than  a  horse,  though  like  Job's  stall- 
ion, his  neck  be  clothed  with  thunder.  Horse-races  in  olden 
times  were  under  the  ban  of  Christian  people  ;  and  in  our 
day  the  same  institution  has  come  up  under  fictitious  names. 
And  it  is  called  a  "  Summer  Meeting,"  almost  suggestive  of 
positive  religious  exercises.  And  it  is  called  an  "Agricultural 
Fair,"  suggestive  of  everything  that  is  improving  in  the  art 
of  farming.  But  under  these  deceptive  titles  are  the  same 
cheating,  and  the  same  betting,  and  the  same  drunkenness, 
and  the  same  vagabondage,  and  the  same  abomination  that 
were  to  be  found  under  the  old  horse-racing  system.  I  never 
knew  a  man  yet  who  could  give  himself  to  the  pleasures  of 
the  turf  for  a  long  reach  of  time  and  not  be  battered  in 
morals.  They  hook  up  their  spanking  team,  and  put  on 
their  sporting  cap,  and  take  the  reins  and  dash  down  the  road 
to  perdition!  The  great  day  at  Saratoga,  and  Long  Branch, 
and  Atlantic  City,  and  nearly  all  the  other  watering-places  is 
the  day  of  the  races.  The  hotels  are  thronged,  every  kind  of 
equipage  is  taken  up  at  at  an  almost  fabulous  price ;  and  there 
are  many  respectable  people  mingling  with  jockeys  and  gamblers 


288 


WATERING-PLACES. 


and  libertines  and  foul-mouthed  men  and.  flashy  women .  The 
bar-tender  stirs  up  the  brandy-smash.  The  bets  run  high. 
The  greenhorns,  supposing  all  is  fair,  put  in  their  money 


SCENES  AT  ATLANTIC  CITY,  NEW  JERSEY. 

soon  enough  to  lose  it.  Three  weeks  before  the  race  takes 
place  the  struggle  is  decided,  and  the  men  in  the  secret  know 
on  which  steed  to  bet  their  money.  The  two  men  on  the 
horses  riding  around,  long  ago  arranged  who  shall  win. 


WATERING-PLACES. 


289 


Leaning  from  the  stand,  or  from  the  carriage,  are  men  and 
women  so  absorbed  in  the  struggle  of  bone  and  muscle  and 
mettle,  that  they  make  a  grand  harvest  for  the  pickpockets 
who  carry  off  the  pocketbooks  and  the  portemonnaies.  Men, 
looking  on,  see  only  two  horses  with  two  riders  flying  around 
the  ring;  but  there  is  many  a  man  on  that  stand  whose 
honor  and  domestic  happiness  and  fortune — white  mane,  white 
foot,  white  flank — are  in  the  ring,  racing  with  inebriety,  and 
with  fraud,  and  with  profanity,  and  with  ruin, — black  neck, 
black  foot,  black  flank.  Neck  and  neck  they  go  in  that 
moral  Epsom.  White  horse  of  honor;  black  horse  of  ruin. 
Death  says :  "  I  will  bet  on  the  black  horse."  Spectator  says : 
"  I  will  bet  on  the  white  horse."  The  white  horse  of  honor 
a  little  way  ahead.  The  black  horse  of  ruin,  Satan  mounted, 
all  the  time  gaining  on  him.  Spectator  breathless.  Put  on 
the  lash.  Dig  in  the  spurs.  There!  They  are  past  the 
stand.  Sure.  Just  as  I  expected  it.  The  black  horse 
of  ruin  has  won  the  race,  and  all  the  galleries  of  darkness 
"huzza!  huzza!"  and  the  devils  come  in  to  pick  up 
their  wagers.  Have  nothing  to  do  with  horse-racing  dissipa- 
tions. Long  ago  the  English  government  got  through  look- 
ing to  the  turf  for  the  dragoon  and  light  cavalry  horse. 
They  found  the  turf  depreciates  the  stock;  and  it  is  yet 
worse  for  men.  Thomas  Hughes,  the  member  of  Parlia- 
ment, and  the  author  known  all  the  world  over,  hearing  that 
a  new  turf  enterprise  was  being  started  in  this  country,  wrote 
a  letter  in  which  he  said:  "  Heaven  help  you,  then;  for  of 
all  the  cankers  of  our  old  civilization,  there  is  nothing  in 
this  country  approaching  in  unblushing  meanness,  in  rascal- 
ity holding  its  head  high,  to  this  belauded  institution  of  the 
British  turf."  Another  famous  sportsman  writes:  "How 
many  fine  domains  have  been  shared  among  these  hosts  of 
rapacious  sharks  during  the  last  two  hundred  years;  and  un- 
less the  system  be  altered,  how  many  more  are  doomed  to 
fall  into  the  same  gulf!"    The  Duke  of  Hamilton,  through 


290 


WATERING-PLACES. 


his  horse-racing  proclivities,  in  three  years  got  through  his 
entire  fortune  of  £70,000;  and  I  will  say  that  some  of  you 
are  being  undermined  by  it.  With  the  bull-fights  of  Spain 
and  the  bear-baitings  of  the  pit,  may  the  Lord  God  anni- 
hilate the  infamous  and  accursed  horse-racing  of  England 
and  America. 

I  go  further  and  speak  of  another  temptation  that  hovers 
over  the  watering  place ;  and  this  is  the  temptation  to  sacrifice 
physical  strength.  The  modern  Bethesda  was  intended  to 
recuperate  the  physical  health ;  and  yet  how  many  come  from 
the  watering-places,  their  health  absolutely  destroyed;  sim- 
pletons, boasting  of  having  imbibed  twenty  glasses  of  Con- 
gress water  before  breakfast.  Families,  accustomed  to  going 
to  bed  at  ten  o'clock  at  night,  gossiping  until  one  or  two 
o'clock  in  the  morning.  Dyspeptics,  usually  very  cautious 
about  their  health,  mingling  ice-creams  and  lemons  and 
lobster  salads  and  cocoanuts,  until  the  gastric  juices  lift  up 
all  their  voices  of  lamentation  and  protest.  Delicate  women 
and  brainless  young  men  dancing  themselves  into  vertigo  and 
catalepsy.  Thousands  of  men  and  women  coming  back  from 
our  watering-places  in  the  autumn  with  the  foundations  laid 
for  ailments  that  will  last  them  all  their  life  long.  You  know 
as  well  as  I  do  that  this  is  the  simple  truth.  In  the  summer, 
you  say  to  your  good  health :  "  Good-bye ;  I  am  going  to 
have  a  gay  time  now  for  a  little  while ;  I  will  be  very  glad  to 
see  you  again  in  the  autumn."  Then  in  the  autumn,  when 
you  are  hard  at  work  in  your  office,  or  store,  or  shop,  or 
counting-room,  Good  Health  will  come  in  and  say,  "Good- 
bye; I  am  going."  You  say:  "Where  are  you  going?" 
"Oil,"  says  Good  Health,  "I  am  going  to  take  a  vacation." 
It  is  a  poor  rule  that  will  not  work  both  ways,  and  your  good 
health  will  leave  you  choleric  and  splenetic  and  exhausted. 
You  coquetted  with  your  good  health  in  the  summer  time, 
and  your  good  health  is  coquetting  with  you  in  the  winter 
time.    A  fragment  of  Paul's  charge  to  the  jailor  would  be  an 


WATERING-PLACES. 


291 


appropriate  inscription  for  the  hotel  register  in  every  water- 
ing-place: "Do  thyself  no  harm." 

Another  temptation  hovering  around  the  watering-place 
is  the  formation  of  hasty  and  life-long  alliances.  The  water- 
ing-places are  responsible  for  more  of  the  domestic  infelici- 
ties of  this  country  than  all  other  things  combined.  Society 
is  so  artificial  there  that  no  sure  judgment  of  character  can 
be  formed.  They  who  form  companionships  amid  such  cir- 
cumstances, go  into  a  lottery  where  there  are  twenty  blanks 
to  one  prize.  In  the  severe  tug  of  life  you  want  more  than 
glitter  and  splash.  Life  is  not  a  ball-room,  where  the  music 
decides  the  step,  and  bow,  and  prance,  and  graceful  swing  of 
long  trail  can  make  up  for  strong  common  sense.  You  might 
as  well  go  among  the  gaily-painted  yachts  of  a  summer 
regatta  to  find  war  vessels,  as  to  go  among  the  light  spray  of 
the  summer  watering-place  to  find  character  that  can  stand 
the  test  of  the  great  struggle  of  human  life.  Ah,  in  the 
battle  of  life  you  want  a  stronger  weapon  than  a  lace  fan  or 
a  croquet  mallet !  The  load  of  life  is  so  heavy  that  in  order 
to  draw  it  you  want  a  team  stronger  than  one  made  up  of  a 
masculine  grasshopper  and  a  feminine  butterfly.  If  there  is 
any  man  in  the  community  that  excites  my  contempt,  and 
that  ought  to  excite  the  contempt  of  every  man  and  woman, 
it  is  the  soft-handed,  soft-headed  fop,  who,  perfumed  until 
the  air  is  actually  sick,  spends  his  summer  in  taking  killing 
attitudes,  and  waving  sentimental  adieus,  and  talking  infini- 
tesimal nothings,  and  finding  his  heaven  in  the  set  of  a 
lavender  kid-glove.  Boots  as  tight  as  an  inquisition.  Two 
hours  of  consummate  skill  exhibited  in  the  tie  of  a  flaming 
cravat.  His  conversation  made  up  of  "Ahs!"  and"Ohs!" 
and  "He-hes!"  It  would  take  five  hundred  of  them  stewed 
down  to  make  a  teaspoonful  of  calf's  foot  jelly.  There  is 
only  one  counterpart  to  such  a  man  as  that,  and  that  is  the 
frothy  young  woman  at  the  watering-place ;  her  conversation 
made  up  of  French  moonshine;  what  she,  has  in  her  head 


292 


WATERING  PLACES. 


only  equaled  by  what  she  has  on  her  back;  useless  ever  since 
she  was  born,  and  to  be  useless  until  she  is  dead,  useless 
until  she  becomes  an  intelligent  Christian.  We  may  admire 
music,  and  fair  faces,  and  graceful  step;  but  amid  the  heart- 
lessness,  and  the  inflation,  and  the  fantastic  influences  of  our 
modern  watering-places,  beware  how  you  make  life-long 
covenants. 

Another  temptation  that  will  hover  over  the  watering- 
place  is  that  of  baneful  literature.  Almost  every  one  start- 
ing off  for  the  summer  takes  some  reading  matter.  It  is  a 
book  out  of  the  library,  or  off  the  bookstand,  or  bought  of 
the  boy  hawking  books  through  the  cars.  I  really  believe 
there  is  more  pestiferous  trash  read  among  the  intelligent 
classes  in  July  and  August,  than  in  all  the  other  ten  months 
of  the  year.  Men  and  women  who  at  home  would  not  be 
satisfied  with  a  book  that  was  not  really  sensible,  I  find  sit- 
ting on  hotel  piazza,  or  under  the  trees,  reading  books,  the 
index  of  which  would  make  them  blush  if  they  knew  that  you 
knew  what  the  book  was.  "  Oh,"  they  say,  "  you  must  have 
intellectual  recreation. "  Yes.  There  is  no  need  that  you 
take  along  into  a  watering  place  "  Hamilton's  Metaphysics," 
or  some  ponderous  discourse  on  the  eternal  decrees,  or 
"Faraday's  Philosophy."  There  are  many  easy  books  that 
are  good.  You  might  as  well  say,  "I  propose  now  to  give 
a  little  rest  to  my  digestive  organs,  and  instead  of  eating 
heavy  meat  and  vegetables,  I  will,  for  a  little  while,  take 
lighter  food — a  little  strychnine  and  a  few  grains  of  rats- 
bane." Literary  poison  in  August  is  as  bad  as  literary  poi- 
son in  December.  Throw  out  all  that  stuff  from  your  sum- 
mer baggage.  Are  there  not  good  books  that  are  easy  to 
read — books  of  entertaining  travel,  books  of  congenial 
history,  books  of  pure  fun,  books  of  poetry,  ringing  with 
merry  canto,  books  of  fine  engraving,  books  that  will  rest 
the  mind  as  well  as  purify  the  heart  and  elevate  the  whole 
life?    My  hearers,  there  will  not  be  an  hour  between  this 


WATEKING  PLACES. 


293 


and  the  day  of  your  death  when  you  can  afford  to  read  a  book 
lacking  in  moral  principle. 

Another  temptation  hovering  all  around  our  watering- 
places,  is  to  intoxicating  beverage.  I  am  told  that  it  is 
becoming  more  and  more  fashionable  for  women  to  drink; 
and  it  is  not  very  long  ago  that  a  lady  of  great  respectability 
in  this  city,  having  taken  two  glasses  of  wine  away  from 
home,  became  violent,  and  her  friends,  ashamed,  forsook 
her,  and  she  was  carried  to  a  police  station,  and  afterward  to 
her  disgraced  home.  I  care  not  how  well  a  woman  may  dress,  if 
she  has  taken  enough  of  wine  to  flush  her  cheek  and  put  a 
glassiness  on  her  eye,  she  is  intoxicated.  She  may  be  handed 
into  a  twenty-five  hundred  dollar  carriage,  and  have  diamonds 
enough  to  confound  the  Tiffany's — she  is  intoxicated.  She 
may  be  a  graduate  of  Packer  Institute,  and  the  daughter  of 
some  man  in  danger  of  being  nominated  for  the  Presidency 
— she  is  drunk.  You  may  have  a  larger  vocabulary  than  I 
have,  and  you  may  say  in  regard  to  her  that  she  is  "convivial," 
or  she  is  "merry,"  or  she  is  "festive,"  or  she  is  "exhilarated;" 
but  you  cannot  with  all  your  garlands  of  verbiage,  cover  up 
the  plain  fact  that  it  is  an  old-fashioned  case  of  drunk.  Now 
the  watering-places  are  full  of  temptations  to  men  and  women 
to  tipple.  At  the  close  of  the  tenpin  or  billiard  game,  they 
tipple.  At  the  close  of  the  cotillion,  they  tipple.  Seated  on 
the  piazza  cooling  themselves  off,  they  tipple.  The  tinged 
glasses  come  around  with  bright  straws,  and  they  tipple. 
First,  they  take  "  light  wines,"  as  they  call  them;  but  "light 
wines"  are  heavy  enough  to  debase  the  appetite.  There  is 
not  a  very  long  road  between  champagne  at  five  dollars  a 
bottle  and  whiskey  at  ten  cents  a  glass.  Satan  has  three  or 
four  grades  down  which  he  takes  men  to  destruction.  One 
man  he  takes  up,  and  through  one  spree  pitches  him  into 
eternal  darkness.  That  is  a  rare  case.  Very  seldom,  indeed, 
can  you  find  a  man  who  will  be  such  a  fool  as  that.  Satan 
will  take  another  man  to  a  grade,  to  a  descent  at  an  angle 


294  WATERING  PLACES. 

about  like  the  Pennsylvania  coal-shoot  or  the  Mount  Wash- 
ington rail-track,  and  shove  him  off.  But  that  is  very  rare. 
When  a  man  goes  clown  to  destruction,  Satan  brings  him  to 
a  plane.  It  is  almost  a  level.  The  depression  is  so  slight 
that  you  can  hardly  see  it.  The  man  does  not  actually  know 
that  he  is  on  the  down  grade,  and  it  tips  only  a  little  toward 


UP  MOUNT  WASHINGTON. 


darkness — just  a  little.  And  the  first  mile  it  is  claret,  and 
the  second  mile  it  is  sherry,  and  the  third  mile  it  is  punch, 
and  the  fourth  mile  it  is  ale,  and  the  fifth  mile  it  is  porter, 
and  the  sixth  mile  it  is  brandy,  and  then  it  gets  steeper,  and 
steeper,  and  steeper,  and  the  man  gets  frightened  and  says: 
66  0,  let  me  get  off."  "No,"  says  the  conductor,  "this  is  an 
express- train,  and  it  don't  stop  until  it  gets  to  the  Grand 
Central  depot  of  Smashupton!"  Ah,  "Look  not  thou  upon 
the  wine  when  it  is  red,  when  it  giveth  its  color  in  the  cup, 


WATERING-PLACES, 


295 


when  it  moveth  itself  aright.  At  the  last  it  biteth  like  a 
serpent,  and  stingeth  like  an  adder. ' ' 

My  friends,  whether  you  tarry  at  home — which  will  be 
quite  as  safe  and  perhaps  quite  as  comfortable — or  go  into 
the  country,  arm  yourself  against  temptation.  The  grace  of 
God  is  the  only  safe  shelter,  whether  in  town  or  country. 


CHAPTER  XXII 


WHISPERS. 

Paul  called  the  long  roll  of  the  world's  villainy,  and  he 
put  in  the  midst  of  this  roll  those  persons  known  in  all  cities 
and  communities  and  places  as  whisperers.  They  are  so 
called  because  they  generally  speak  under  voice  and  in  a 
confidential  way,  their  hand  to  the  side  of  their  mouth  act- 
ing as  a  funnel  to  keep  the  precious  information  from  wan- 
dering into  the  wrong  ear.  They  speak  softly,  not  because 
they  have  lack  of  lung  force,  or  because  they  are  overpowered 
with  the  spirit  of  gentleness,  but  because  they  want  to  escape 
the  consequences  of  defamation.  If  no  one  hears  but  the  person 
whispered  unto  and  the  offender  be  arraigned,  he  can  deny 
the  whole  thing,  for  whisperers  are  always  first-class  liars! 
Some  people  whisper  because  they  are  hoarse  from  a  cold,  or 
because  they  wish  to  convey  some  useful  information  with- 
out disturbing  others ;  but  the  creatures  photographed  by  the 
apostle  give  muffled  utterance  from  sinister  and  depraved 
motive,  and  sometimes  you  can  only  hear  the  sibilant  sound 
as  the  letter  "S"  drops  from  the  tongue  into  the  listening 
ear,  the  brief  hiss  of  the  serpent  as  it  projects  its  venom. 
Whisperers  are  masculine  and  feminine  with  a  tendency  to 
majority  on  the  side  of  those  who  are  called  "the  lords  of  cre- 
ation." Whisperers  are  heard  at  every  window  of  bank 
cashier,  and  are  heard  in  all  counting  rooms  as  well  as  in 
sewing  societies  and  at  meetings  of  asylum  directors  and 
managers.  They  are  the  worst  foes  of  society;  responsible 
for  miseries  innumerable;  they  are  the  scavengers  of  the 
world,  driving  their  cart  through  every  community,  and  I  hold 
up  for  your  holy  anathema  and  execration  these  whisperers. 

(296) 


WHISPERS. 


297 


From  the  frequency  with  which  Paul  speaks  of  them 
under  different  titles,  I  conclude  that  he  must  have  suffered 
somewhat  from  them.  His  personal  presence  was  very  de- 
fective, and  that  made  him,  perhaps,  the  target  of  their  ridi- 
cule. And  besides  that,  he  was  a  bachelor,  persisting  in  his 
celibacy  down  into  the  sixties,  indeed,  all  the  way  through, 
and  some  having  failed  in  their  connubial  designs  upon  him, 
the  little  missionary  was  put  under  the  raking  fire  of  these 
whisperers.  He  was  no  doubt  a  rare  morsel  for  their  scan- 
dalization :  and  he  cannot  keep  his  patience  any  longer  and 
he  lays  hold  of  these  miscreants  of  the  tongue  and  gives 
them  a  very  hard  setting  down  among  the  scoundrelly  and 
the  murderers.  "Envy,  murder,  depate,  deceit,  malignity: 
whisperers." 

The  law  of  libel  makes  quick  and  stout  grip  of  open  slan- 
der. If  I  should  in  a  plain  way  charge  you  with  fraud,  or 
theft,  or  murder,  or  uncleanness,  to-morrow  morning  I  might 
have  peremptory  documents  served  on  me,  and  I  would  have 
to  pay  in  dollars  and  cents  for  the  damage  I  had  done  your 
character.  But  these  creatures  spoken  of  are  so  small  that 
they  escape  the  fine  tooth-comb  of  the  law.  They  go  on  and 
they  go  on,  escaping  the  judges  and  the  juries  and  the  peni- 
tentiaries. The  district  attorney  cannot  find  them,  the 
sheriff  cannot  find  them,  the  grand  jury  cannot  find  them. 
Shut  them  off  from  one  route  of  perfidy  and  they  start  on 
another.  You  cannot  by  the  force  of  moral  sentiment  per- 
suade them  to  desist.  You  might  as  well  read  the  ten  com- 
mandments to  a  flock  of  crows,  expecting  them  to  retreat 
under  the  force  of  moral  sentiment.  They  are  to  be  found 
everywhere,  these  whisperers.  I  think  th£ir  paradise  is  a 
country  village  of  about  one  or  two  thousand  people  where 
everybody  knows  everybody.  But  they  also  are  to  be  found 
in  large  quantities  in  all  our  cities.  They  have  a  prying  dis- 
position. They  look  into  the  basement  windows  at  the  tables 
of  their  neighbors,  and  can  tell  just  what  they  have  morning 


298 


WHISPERS. 


and  night  to  eat.  They  can  see  as  far  through  a  key-hole  as 
other  people  can  see  with  a  door  wide  open.  They  can  hear 
conversation  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  room.  Indeed,  the 
world  to  them  is  a  whispering  gallery.  They  always  put  the 
worst  construction  on  everything. 

Some  morning  a  wife  descends  into  tne  street,  her  eyes 
damp  with  tears,  and  that  is  a  stimulus  to  the  tattler  and  is 
enough  to  set  up  a  business  for  three  or  four  weeks.  "I 
guess  that  husband  and  wife  don't  live  happily  together.  I 
wonder  if  he  hasn't  been  abusing  her?  It's  outrageous.  He 
ought  to  be  disciplined.  He  ought  to  be  brought  up  before 
the  church.  I'll  go  right  over  to  my  neighbors  and  I'll  let 
them  know  about  this  matter."  She  rushes  in  all  out  of 
breath  to  a  neighbor's  house  and  says:  "Oh,  Mrs.  Allear, 
have  you  heard  the  dreadful  news?  Why,  our  neighbor,  poor 
thing,  came  down  off  the  steps  in  a  flood  of  tears.  That 
brute  of  a  husband  has  been  abusing  her.  Well,  it's  just  as 
I  expected.  I  saw  him  the  other  afternoon  very  smiling  and 
very  gracious  to  some  one  who  smiled  back,  and  I  thought 
then  I  would  just  go  up  to  him  and  tell  him  he  had  better 
go  home  and  looK  after  his  wife  and  family  who  probably  at 
that  very  time  were  upstairs  crying  their  eyes  out.  Oh,  Mrs. 
Allear,  do  have  your  husband  go  over  and  put  an  end  to  this 
trouble!  It's  simply  outrageous  that  our  neighborhood  should 
be  disturbed  in  this  way.  It's  awful."  The  fact  is  that  one 
man  or  woman  set  on  fire  of  this  hellish  spirit  will  keep  a 
whole  neighborhood  aboil.  It  does  not  require  any  very 
great  brain.  The  chief  requisition  is  that  the  woman  have  a 
small  family  or  no  family  at  all,  because  if  she  have  a  large 
family  then  she  would  have  to  stay  at  home  and  look  after 
them.  It  is  very  important  that  she  be  single,  or  have  no 
children  at  all,  and  then  she  can  attend  to  all  the  secrets  of 
the  neighborhood  all  the  time.  A  woman  with  a  large  family 
makes  a  very  poor  whisperer. 

It  is  astonishing  how  these  whisperers  gather  up  every- 


WHISPERS. 


299 


thing.  They  know  everything  that  happens.  They  have 
telephone  and  telegraph  wires  reaching  from  their  cars  to  all 
the  houses  in  the  neighborhood.  They  have  no  taste  for 
healthy  news,  but  for  the  scraps  and  peelings  thrown  out  of 
the  scullery  into  the  back  yard  they  have  great  avidity.  On 
the  day  when  there  is  a  new  scandal  in  the  newspapers,  they 
have  no  time  to  go  abroad.  On  the  day  when  there  are  four 
or  five  columns  of  delightful  private  letters  published  in  a 
divorce  case,  she  stays  at  home  and  reads  and  reads  and 
reads.  No  time  for  her  Bible  that  day,  but  toward  night, 
perhaps,  she  may  find  time  to  run  out  a  little  while  and  see 
whether  there  are  any  new  developments.  Satan  does  not 
have  to  keep  a  very  sharp  lookout  for  his  evil  dominion  in 
that  neighborhood.  He  has  let  out  to  her  the  whole  con- 
tract. She  gets  husbands  and  wives  into  a  quarrel,  and 
brothers  and  sisters  into  antagonism,  and  she  disgusts  the 
pastor  with  the  flock  and  the  flock  with  the  pastor,  and  she 
makes  neighbors,  who  before  were  kindly  disposed  toward 
each  other,  over  suspicious  and  critical,  so  when  one  of  the 
neighbors  passes  by  in  a  carriage  they  hiss  through  their 
teeth  and  say:  "Ah,  we  could  all  keep  carriages  if  we  never 
paid  our  debts !" 

When  two  or  three  whisperers  get  together  they  stir  a 
caldron  of  trouble  which  makes  me  think  of  the  three  witches 
of  Macbeth  dancing  around  a  boiling  caldron  in  a  dark  cave : 

6 'Double,  double,  toil  and  trouble. 
Fire  burn  and  caldron  bubble. 
Fillet  of  a  fenny  snake 
In  the  caldron  boil  and  bake; 
Eye  of  newt,  and  toe  ot  frog, 
Wool  of  bat,  and  tongue  of  dog, 
Adder's  fork,  and  blind  worm's  sting, 
Lizard's  leg,  and  owlet's  wing, 
For  a  charm  of  powerful  trouble, 
Like  a  hell  both  boil  and  bubble, 
Double,  double,  toil  and  trouble, 


300 


WHISPERS. 


Fire  burn  and  caldron  bubble, 
Scale  of  dragon,  tooth  of  wolf, 
Witches'  mummy;  maw  and  gulf 
Of  the  ravin'd  salt -sea  shark; 
Make  the  gruel  thick  and  stark; 
Add  thereto  a  tiger's  chaudron 
For  the  ingredients  of  our  caldron. 
Double,  double,  toil  and  trouble, 
Fire  burn  and  caldron  bubble. 
Cool  it  with  a  baboon's  blood; 
Then  the  charm  is  firm  and  good." 

I  would  only  change  Shakespeare  in  this,  that,  where  he 
puts  the  word  witch  I  would  put  the  word  wrhisperer.  Ah, 

what  a  caldron!  Did  you 
ever  get  a  taste  out  of  it?  I 
have  more  respect  for  the  poor 
waif  of  the  street  that  goes 
down  under  the  gaslight, 
with  no  home  and  no  God 
— for  she  deceives  no  one  as 
to  what  she  is — than  I  have 
for  these  hags  of  respectable 
society  who  cover  up  their 
tiger  claws  with  a  line  shawl, 
and  bolt  the  hell  of  their  heart 

WILLIAM  SHAKESPEARE.  ,.  _    .         ,  ,  .  . 

with  a  diamond  breast-pm! 
The  work  of  the  masculine  whisperers  is  chiefly  seen  in 
the  embarrassment  of  business.  Now,  I  suppose  out  of  the 
numberless  men  who  at  some  time  have  been  in  business 
trouble  in  nine  cases  out  of  ten  it  was  the  result  of  some 
whisperer's  work.  The  whisperer  uttered  some  suspicion  in 
regard  to  your  credit.  You  sold  your  horse  and  carriage 
because  you  had  no  use  for  them,  and  the  whisperer  said : 
* ' Sold  his  horse  and  carriage  because  he  had  to  sell  them. 
The  fact  that  he  sold  his  horse  and  carriage  shows  he  is 
going  down  in  business."    One  of  your  friends  gets  embar- 


WHISPERS. 


301 


rassed,  and  you  are  a  little  involved  with  him.  The  whis- 
perer says:  6  'I  wonder  if  he  can  stand  under  all  this  pres- 
sure? I  think  he  is  going  down.  I  think  he  will  have  to 
give  up."  You  borrow  money  out  of  a  bank  and  a  director 
whispers  outside  about  it,  and  after  awhile  the  suspicion  gets 
fairly  started,  and  it  leaps  from  one  whisperer's  lip  to  another 
whisperer's  lip  until  all  the  people  you  owe  want  their  money 
and  want  it  right  away,  and  the  business  circles  come  around 
you  like  a  pack  of  wolves,  and  though  you  had  assets  four 
times  more  than  were  necessary  to  meet  your  liabilities, 
crash !  went  everything.  Whisperers !  whisperers !  Oh,  how 
much  business  men  have  suffered.  Sometimes  in  the  circles 
of  clergymen  we  discuss  why  it  is  that  a  great  many  mer- 
chants do  not  go  to  church.  I  will  tell  you  why  they  do  not 
go  to  church.  By  the  time  Saturday  night  comes  they  are 
worn  out  with  the  annoyances  of  business  life.  They  have 
had  enough  meanness  practiced  upon  them  to  set  their  whole 
nervous  system  atwifcch.  People  sometimes  do  not  under- 
stand why  in  the  Brooklyn  Tabernacle  we  generally  have 
men  in  the  majority  in  almost  all  our  audiences.  It  is 
because  I  preach  so  much  to  business  men,  and  I  resolved 
years  ago  that  I  would  never  let  a  Sunday  pass  but  in  prayer 
or  sermon  I  would  utter  my  sympathies  for  the  struggle  of 
business  men,  knowing  that  struggle  as  I  do  in  many  cases 
to  be  the  work  of  whisperers.  I  have  seen  men  whispered 
into  bankruptcy.  You  have  seen  the  same  thing.  Alas,  for 
these  gadabouts,  these  talebearers,  these  scandal  mongers, 
these  everlasting  snoops !  I  hate  them  with  an  ever-increas- 
ing vehemence  of  hatred,  and  I  ask  God  to  give  me  more 
intensity  with  which  to  hate  them. 

I  think  among  the  worst  of  the  whisperers  are  those  who 
gather  up  all  the  harsh  things  that  have  been  said  about  you 
and  bring  them  to  you — all  the  things  said  against  you,  or 
against  your  family,  or  against  your  style  of  business.  They 
gather  them  all  up  and  they  bring  them  to  you,  they  bring 


302 


WHISPERS. 


them  to  you  in  the  very  worst  shape,  they  bring  them  to  you 
without  an}7  of  the  extenuating  circumstances,  and  after  they 
have  made  your  feelings  all  raw,  very  raw,  they  take  this 
brine,  this  turpentine,  this  aqua  for 'tis,  and  rub  it  in  with  a 
coarse  towrel,  and  rub  it  in  until  it  sinks  to  the  bone.  They 
make  you  the  pincushion  in  which  they  thrust  all  the  sharp 
things  they  have  ever  heard  about  you.  "NowT,  don't  bring 
me  into  a  scrape.  Now  don't  tell  anybody  I  told  you.  Let 
it  be  between  you  and  me.  Don't  involve  me  in  it  at  all." 
They  aggravate  you  to  the  point  of  profanity,  and  then  they 
wonder  you  cannot  sing  psalm  tunes !  They  turn  you  on  a 
spit  before  a  hot  fire  and  wonder  why  you  are  not  absorbed 
in  gratitude  to  them  because  they  turn  you  on  a  spit.  Ped- 
dlers of  nightshade.  Peddlers  of  Canada  thistle.  Peddlers 
of  nux  vomica.  Sometimes  they  get  you  in  a  corner  where 
you  cannot  very  well  escape  without  being  rude,  and  then 
they  tell  you  all  about  this  one,  and  all  about  that  one,  and 
all  about  the  other  one,  and  they  talk,  talk,  talk,  talk,  talk, 
talk.  After  awhile  they  go  away  leaving  the  place  looking 
like  a  barnyard  after  the  foxes  and  weasels  have  been  around; 
here  a  wing,  and  there  a  claw,  and  yonder  an  eye,  and  there 
a  crop.    Oh,  how  they  do  make  the  feathers  fly! 

Eather  than  the  defamation  of  good  names,  it  seems  to 
me  it  would  be  more  honorable  and  useful  if  you  just  took  a 
box  of  matches  in  your  pocket  and  a  razor  in  your  hand, 
and  go  through  the  streets  and  see  how  many  houses  you 
can  burn  down  and  how  many  throats  you  can  cut.  That  is 
a  better  business.  The  destruction  of  a  man's  name  is 
worse  than  the  destruction  of  his  life.  A  woman  came  in 
confessional  to  a  priest  and  told  him  that  she  had  been 
slandering  her  neighbors.  The  priest  gave  her  a  thistle  top 
and  said:  "You  can  take  that  thistle  and  scatter  the  seeds 
all  over  the  field."  She  went  and  did  so,  and  came  back. 
"Now,"  said  the  priest,  "gather  up  all  those  seeds."  She 
said,  "I  can't."    "Ah!"  he  said,  "I  know  you  can't;  neither 


WHISPERS. 


303 


can  you  gather  up  the  evil  words  you  spoke  about  your 
neighbors."  All  good  men  and  all  good  women  have  some- 
times had  detractors  after  them.  John  Wesley's  wife 
whispered  about  him,  whispered  all  over  England,  kept  on 
whispering  about  that  good  man — as  good  a  man  as  ever 
lived — and  kept  on  whispering  until  the  connubial  relation 
was  dissolved. 

Jesus  Christ  had  these  whisperers  after  him,  and  they 
charged  him  with  drinking  too  much  and  keeping  bad  com- 
pany. "A  wine  bibber  and  the  friend  of  publicans  and  sin- 
ners." You  take  the  best  man  that  ever  lived,  and  put  a 
detective  on  his  track  for  ten  years,  watching  where  he  goes 
and  when  he  comes,  and  with  a  determination  to  misconstrue 
everything  and  to  think  he  goes  here  for  a  bad  purpose,  and 
there  for  a  bad  purpose,  with  that  determination  of  destroy- 
ing him,  at  the  end  of  ten  years  he  will  be  held  despicable  in 
the  sight  of  a  great  many  people. 

If  it  is  an  outrageous  thing  to  despoil  a  man's  character, 
how  much  worse  is  it  to  damage  a  woman's  reputation? 
Yet  that  evil  goes  from  century  to  century,  and  it  is  all  done 
by  whisperers.  A  suspicion  is  started.  The  next  whisperer 
who  gets  hold  of  it  states  the  suspicion  as  a  proven  fact,  and 
many  a  good  woman,  as  honorable  as  your  wife  or  your 
mother,  has  been  whispered  out  of  all  kindly  associations, 
and  whispered  into  the  grave.  Some  people  say  there  is  no 
hell ;  but  if  there  be  no  hell  for  such  a  despoiler  of  womanly 
character,  it  is  high  time  that  some  philanthropist  built  one ! 
But  there  is  such  a  place  established,  and  what  a  time  they 
will  have  when  all  the  whisperers  get  down  there  together 
rehearsing  things !  Everlasting  carnival  of  mud.  Were  it 
not  for  the  uncomfortable  surroundings,  you  might  suppose 
they  would  be  glad  to  get  there.  In  that  region  where  they 
are  all  bad,  what  opportunities  for  exploration  by  these 
whisperers.  On  earth,  to  despoil  their  neighbors,  some- 
times they  had  to  lie  about  them,  but  down  there  they  can 


304 


WHISPERS. 


say  the  worst  things  possible  about  their  neighbors,  and  tell 
the  truth.  Jubilee  of  whisperers.  Grand  gala  day  of  back- 
biters. Semi-heaven  of  scandal-mongers  stopping  their  gab- 
ble about  their  diabolical  neighbors  only  long  enough  to  go 
up  to  the  iron  gate  and  ask  some  newcomer  from  the  earth, 
"What  is  the  last  gossip  in  our  cities  here?" 

Now,  how  are  we  to  war  against  this  iniquity  which 
curses  every  community  on  earth?  First,  by  refusing  to 
listen  to  or  believe  a  whisperer.  Every  court  of  the  land 
has  for  a  law,  and  all  decent  communities  have  for  a  law, 
that  you  must  hold  people  innocent  until  they  are  proved 
guilty.  There  is  only  one  person  worse  than  the  whisperer, 
and  that  is  the  man  or  the  woman  who  listens  without  pro- 
test. The  trouble  is,  you  hold  the  sack  while  they  fill  it. 
The  receiver  of  stolen  goods  is  just  as  bad  as  the  thief.  An 
ancient  writer  declares  that  a  slanderer  and  a  man  who 
receives  the  slander  ought  both  to  be  hung — the  one  by  the 
tongue  and  the  other  by  the  ear.  And  I  agree  with  him. 
When  you  hear  something  bad  about  your  neighbors,  do  not 
go  all  over  and  ask  about  it,  whether  it  is  true,  and  scatter  it 
and  spread  it.  You  might  as  well  go  to  a  small-pox  hospital 
and  take  a  patient  and  carry  him  all  through  the  community, 
asking  people  if  they  really  think  it  is  a  case  of  small-pox. 
That  would  be  very  bad  for  the  patient  and  for  all  the  neigh- 
bors. Do  not  retail  slanders  and  whisperings.  Do  not  make 
yourself  the  inspector  of  warts,  and  the  supervisor  of  car- 
buncles, and  the  commissioner  for  street  gutters,  and  the 
holder  of  stakes  for  a  dog  fight.  Can  it  be  that  you,  an  im- 
mortal man,  that  you.  an  immortal  woman,  can  find  no  bet- 
ter business  than  to  become  a  gutter  inspector? 

Besides  that,  at  your  family  table  allow  no  detraction. 
Teach  your  children  to  speak  well  of  others.  Show  them 
the  difference  between  a  bee  and  a  wasp — the  one  gathering 
honey,  the  other  thrusting  a  sting.  I  read  of  a  family  where 
they  kept  what  they  called  a  slander  book,  and  when  any 


WHISPERS. 


305 


slanderous  words  were  uttered  in  the  house  about  anybody, 
or  detraction  uttered,  it  was  all  put  down  in  this  book.  The 
book  was  kept  carefully.  For  the  first  few  weeks  there  were 
a  great  many  entries,  but  after  a  while  there  were  no  entries 
at  all.  Detraction  stopped  in  that  household.  It  would  be 
a  good  thing  to  have  a  slander  book  in  all  households. 

Are  any  of  you  given  to  this  habit  of  whispering  about 
others?  Let  me  persuade  you  to  desist.  Mount  Taurus  was 
a  great  place  for  eagles,  and  cranes  would  fly  along  that  way, 
and  they  would  cackle  so  loud  that  the  eagles  would  know  of 
their  coming  and  they  would  pounce  upon  them  and  destroy 
them.  It  is  said  that  the  old  cranes  found  this  out,  and 
before  they  started  on  their  flight  they  would  always  put  a 
stone  in  their  mouth  so  they  could  not  cackle,  and  then  they 
would  fly  in  perfect  safety.  Oh,  my  friends,  be  as  wise  as 
the  old  cranes  and  avoid  the  folly  of  the  young  cranes!  Do 
not  cackle.  If  you  are  whispered  about,  if  you  are  slandered, 
if  you  are  abused  in  any  circle  of  life,  let  me  say  for  your 
encouragement  that  these  whisperers  soon  run  out.  They 
may  do  little  damage  for  a  while,  but  after  a  while  their 
detraction  becomes  a  eulogy,  and  people  understand  them 
just  as  well  as  though  some  one  chalked  all  over  their  over- 
coat or  their  shawl  these  words:  "Here  goes  a  whisperer. 
Eoom  for  the  leper.  Koom!"  You  go  ahead  and  do  your 
duty,  and  God  will  take  care  of  your  reputation.  How  dare 
you  distrust  Him?  You  have  committed  to  Him  your  souls. 
Can  you  not  trust  Him  with  your  reputation  ?  Get  down  on 
your  knees  before  God  and  settle  the  whole  matter  there. 
That  man  whom  God  takes  care  of  is  well  sheltered. 

Let  me  charge  you  to  make  right  and  holy  use  of  the 
tongue.  It  is  loose  at  one  end  and  can  swing  either  way* 
but  it  is  fastened  at  the  other  end  to  the  floor  of  your  mouth, 
and  that  makes  you  responsible  for  the  way  it  wags.  Xanthus 
the  philosopher  told  his  servant  that  on  the  morrow  he  was 
going  to  have  some  friends  to  dine,  and  told  him  to  get  the 


306 


WHISPERS. 


best  thing  he  could  find  in  the  market.  The  philosopher 
and  his  guests  sat  down  the  next  day  at  the  table.  They  had 
nothing  but  tongue — four  or  five  courses  of  tongue — tongue 
cooked  in  this  way  and  tongue  cooked  in  that  way,  and  the 
philosopher  lost  his  patience  and  said  to  his  servant,  "Didn't 
I  tell  you  to  get  the  best  thing  in  the  market?"  He  said: 
"I  did  get  the  best  thiug  in  the  market.  Isn't  the  tongue 
the  organ  of  sociality,  the  organ  of  eloquence,  the  organ  of 
kindness,  the  organ  of  worship?"  Then  Xanthus  said: 
"To-morrow  I  want  you  to  get  the  worst  thing  in  the  market." 
And  on  the  morrow  the  philosopher  sat  at  the  table,  and 
there  was  nothing  there  but  tongue — four  or  five  courses  of 
tongue — tongue  in  this  shape  and  tongue  in  that  shape — and 
the  philosopher  again  lost  his  patience  and  said:  "Didn't 
I  tell  you  to  get  the  worst  thing  in  the  market?"  The  ser- 
vant replied:  "I  did;  for  isn't  the  tongue  the  organ  of 
blasphemy,  the  organ  of  defamation,  the  organ  of  lying?" 
Oh,  employ  the  tongue  which  God  so  wonderfully  created  as 
the  organ  of  taste,  the  organ  of  deglutition,  the  organ  of 
articulation  to  make  others  happy,  and  in  the  service  of  God ! 
If  you  whisper,  whisper  good — encouragement  to  the  fallen 
and  hope  to  the  lost.  Ah,  my  friends,  the  time  will  soon 
come  when  we  will  all  whisper !  The  voice  will  be  enfeebled 
in  the  last  sickness,  and  though  that  voice  could  laugh  and 
shout  and  sing  and  halloo  until  the  forest  echoes  answered, 
it  will  be  so  feeble  then  we  can  only  whisper  consolation  to 
those  whom  we  leave  behind,  and  only  whisper  our  hope  of 
heaven. 

While  I  write  there-  are  hundreds  whispering  their  last 
utterances.  Oh,  when  that  solemn  hour  comes  to  you  and 
to  me,  as  come  soon  it  will,  mayat  be  found  that  we  did  our 
best  to  serve  Christ,  and  to  cheer  our  comrades  in  the  earthly 
struggle,  and  that  we  consecrated  not  only  our  hand  but  our 
tongue  to  God.  So  that  the  shadows  that  fall  around  our 
dying  pillow   shall  not  be  the    evening  twilight  of  a 


WHISPERS. 


307 


gathering  night,  but  the  morning  twilight  of  an  everlasting 
day.  This  morning,  at  half-past  five  o'clock,  I  looked  out  of 
my  window,  and  the  stars  were  very  dim.  I  looked  out  a 
few  moments  after,  and  the  stars  were  almost  invisible.  I 
looked  out  an  hour  or  two  afterward.  Not  a  star  was  to  be 
seen.  "What  was  the  matter  of  the  stars'?  Had  they  melted 
into  darkness?  No.  They  had  melted  into  the  glorious 
light  of  morn. 


CHAPTER  XXIII. 


LIES. 

There  are  thousands  of  ways  of  telling  a  lie.  A  man's 
whole  life  may  be  a  falsehood  and  yet  never  with  his  lips 
may  he  falsify  once.  There  is  a  way  of  uttering  falsehood 
by  look,  by  manner  as  well  as  by  lip.  There  are  persons 
who  are  guilty  of  dishonesty  of  speech  and  then  afterward 
say  "  may  be;  "  call  it  a  white  lie,  when  no  lie  is  that  color. 
The  whitest  lie  ever  told  was  as  black  as  perdition.  There 
are  those  so  given  to  dishonesty  of  speech  that  they  do  not 
know  when  they  are  lying.  With  some  it  is  an  acquired 
sin,  and  with  others  it  is  a  natural  infirmity.  There  are 
those  whom  you  will  recognize  as  born  liars.  Their  whole 
life,  from  cradle  to  grave,  is  filled  up  with  vice  of  speech. 
Misrepresentation  and  prevarication  are  as  natural  to  them 
as  the  inrantile  diseases,  and  are  a  sort  of  moral  croup  or 
spiritual  scarlatina.  Then  there  are  those  who  in  after  life 
have  opportunities  of  developing  this  evil,  and  they  go 
from  deception  to  deception,  and  from  class  to  class,  until 
they  are  regularly  graduated  liars. 

There  is  something  in  the  presence  of  natural  objects 
that  has  a  tendency  to  make  one  pure.  The  trees  never 
issue  false  stock.  The  wheat  fields  are  always  honest.  Eye 
and  oats  never  move  out  in  the  night,  not  paying  for  the 
place  they  occupy.  Corn  shocks  never  make  false  assign- 
ment. Mountain  brooks  are  always  current.  The  gold  of 
the  wheat  fields  is  never  counterfeit.  But  while  the  tendency 
of  agricultural  life  is  to  make  one  honest,  honesty  is  not 
the  characteristic  of  all  who  come  to  the  city  markets  from 
the  country  districts.    You  hear  the  creaking  of  the  dishon- 

(308) 


LIES. 


309 


est  farm- wagon  in  almost  every  street  of  our  great  cities,  a 
farm-wagon  in  which  there  is  not  one  honest  spoke  or  one 
truthful  rivet  from  tongue  to  tail-board.  Again  and  again 
has  domestic  economy  in  our  great  cities  foundered  on  the 
farmer's  firkin.  "When  New  York  and  Brooklyn  and  Cincin- 
nati and  Boston  sit  down  and  weep  over  their  sins,  West- 
chester and  Long  Island  counties  and  all  the  country  dis- 
tricts ought  to  sit  down  and  weep  over  theirs. 

The  tendency  in  all  rural  districts  is  to  suppose  that  sins 
and  transgressions  cluster  in  our  great  cities;  but  citizens 
and  merchants  long  ago  learned  that  it  is  not  safe  to  calcu- 
late from  the  character  of  the  apples  on  the  top  of  the  farm- 
er's barrel  what  is  the  character  of  the  apples  all  the  way 
down  toward  the  bottom.  Many  of  our  citizens  and  mer- 
chants have  learned  that  it  is  always  safe  to  see  the  farmer 
measure  the  barrel  of  beets.  Milk  cans  are  not  always  hon- 
est. There  are  those  who  in  country  life  seem  to  think  they 
have  a  right  to  overreach  grain -dealers,  merchants  of  all 
styles.  They  think  it  is  more  honorable  to  raise  corn  than 
to  deal  in  corn.  The  producer  sometimes  practically  says 
the  merchant:  "  you  get  your  money  easily  anyhow."  Does 
he  get  it  easy?  While  the  farmer  sleeps,  and  he  may  go  to 
sleep  conscious  of  the  fact  that  his  corn  and  rye  are  all  the 
time  progressing  and  adding  to  his  fortune  or  his  livelihood, 
the  merchant  tries  to  sleep  while  conscious  of  the  fact  that 
at  any  moment  the  ship  may  be  driving  on  the  rock,  or  a 
wave  sweeping  over  the  hurricane  deck  spoiling  his  goods, 
or  the  speculators  may  be  plotting  a  monetary  revolution,  or 
the  burglars  may  be  at  that  moment  at  his  money  safe,  or 
the  fire  may  have  kindled  on  the  very  block  where  his  store 
stands.  Let  those  who  get  their  living  in  the  quiet  farm 
and  barn  take  the  place  of  one  of  our  city  merchants  and 
see  whether  it  is  so  easy.  It  is  hard  enough  to  have  the 
hands  blistered  with  out-door  work,  but  it  is  harder  with 
mental  anxieties  to  have  the  brain  consumed.    God  help  the 


310 


LIES. 


merchants.  And  do  not  let  those  who  live  in  country  life 
come  to  the  conclusion  that  all  dishonesties  belong  to  city 
life. 

There  are  those  who  apologize  for  deviations  from  the 
right  and  for  practical  deception  by  saying  it  is  commercial 
custom.  In  other  words,  a  lie  by  multiplication  becomes  a 
virtue.  There  are  large  fortunes  gathered  in  which  there  is 
not  one  drop  of  the  sweat  of  unrequited  toil,  and  not  one 
spark  of  bad  temper  flashes  from  the  bronze  bracket,  and 
there  is  not  one  drop  of  needlewoman's  heart's  blood  on  the 
crimson  plush;  while  there  are  other  fortunes  about  which 
it  may  be  said  that  on  every  door-knob  and  on  every  figure 
of  the  carpet,  and  on  every  wall  there  is  the  mark  of  dis- 
honor. What  if  the  hand  wrung  by  toil  and  blistered  until 
the  skin  comes  off  should  be  placed  on  the  exquisite  wall 
paper,  leaving  its  mark  of  blood — four  fingers  and  a  thumb ; 
or,  if  in  the  night  the  man  should  be  aroused  from  his 
slumber  again  and  again  by  his  own  conscience,  getting  him- 
self up  on  elbow  and  crying  out  into  the  darkness,  "  Who  is 
there?" 

There  are  large  fortunes  upon  which  God's  favor  comes 
down,  and  it  is  just  as  honest  and  just  as  Christian  to  be 
affluent  as  it  is  to  be  poor.  In  many  a  house  there  is  a 
blessing  on  every  pictured  wall  and  on  every  scroll,  and  on 
every  traceried  window,  and  the  joy  that  flashes  in  the  lights, 
and  that  showers  in  the  music,  and  that  dances  in  the  quick 
feet  of  the  children  pattering  through  the  hall  has  in  it  the 
favor  of  God  and  the  approval  of  man.  And  there  are 
thousands  and  tens  of  thousands  of  merchants  who  from  the 
first  day  they  sold  a  yard  of  cloth,  or  a  firkin  of  butter,  have 
maintained  their  integrity.  They  were  born  honest,  they 
will  live  honest,  and  they  will  die  honest. 

But  you  and  I  know  that  there  are  in  commercial  life 
those  who  are  guilty  of  great  dishonesties  of  speech.  A 
merchant  says:  "  I  am  selling  these  goods  at  less  than  cost." 


LIES. 


311 


Is  he  getting  for  those  goods  a  price  inferior  to  that  which  he 
paid  for  them?  Then  he  has  spoken  the  truth.  Is  he  getting 
more?  Then  he  lies.  A  merchant  says:  "I  paid  twenty- 
five  dollars  for  this  article."  Is  that  the  price  he  paid  for 
it?  All  right.  But  suppose  he  paid  for  it  twenty-three  dol- 
lars instead  of  twenty- five  dollars.    Then  he  lies. 

But  there  is  just  as  many  falsehoods  before  the  counter 
as  there  are  behind  the  counter.  A  customer  comes  in  and 
asks:  "  How  much  is  this  article?"  "It  is  five  dollars." 
"  I  can  get  that  for  four  somewhere  else."  Can  he  get  it  for 
four  somewhere  else,  or  did  he  say  that  just  for  the  purpose 
of  getting  it  cheap  by  depreciating  the  value  of  the  goods  ? 
If  so,  he  lied.  A  man  unrolls  upon  the  counter  a  bale  of 
handkerchiefs.  The  customer  says:  "Are  these  all  silk?  " 
"Yes."  "No  cotton  in  them?"  "No  cotton  in  them." 
Are  those  handkerchiefs  all  silk?  Then  the  merchant  told 
the  truth.  Is  there  any  cotton  in  them?  Then  he  lied. 
Moreover,  he  defrauds  himself,  for  this  customer  will  after 
a  while  find  out  that  he  has  been  defrauded,  and  the  next 
time  he  comes  to  town  and  goes  shopping,  he  will  look  up 
at  that  sign  and  say:  "  No,  I  won't  go  there;  that's  the  place 
where  I  got  those  handkerchiefs."  First,  the  merchant 
insulted  Grod,  and  secondly,  he  picked  his  own  pocket. 

Who  would  take  the  responsibility  of  saying  how  many 
falsehoods  were  yesterday  told  by  hardware  men,  and  clothiers, 
and  lumbermen,  and  tobacconists,  and  jewelers,  and  import- 
ers, and  shippers,  and  dealers  in  furniture,  and  dealers  in 
coal,  and  dealers  in  groceries?  Lies  about  buckles,  about 
saddles,  about  harness,  about  shoes,  about  hats,  about  coats, 
about  shovels,  about  tongs,  about  forks,  about  chairs,  about 
sofas,  about  horses,  about  lands,  about  everything.  I  arraign 
commercial  falsehood  as  one  of  the  crying  sins  of  our  time. 

Among  the  artisans  are  those  upon  whom  we  are  depend- 
ent for  the  houses  in  which  we  live,  the  garments  we  wear, 
the  cars  in  which  we  ride.    The  vast  majority  of  them  are, 


312 


LIES. 


so  far  as  I  know  them,  men  who  speak  the  truth,  and  they 

are  upright,  and  many  of  them  are  foremost  in  great  philan- 
thropises and  in  churches ;  but  they  all  do  not  belong  to  that 
class  every  one  knows.  In  times  when  there  is  a  great 
demand  for  labor,  it  is  not  so  easy  for  such  men  to  keep  their 
obligations,  because  they  may  miscalculate  in  regard  to  the 
weather,  or  they  may  not  be  able  to  get  the  help  they  antici- 
pated in  their  enterprise.  I  am  speaking  now  of  those  who 
promise  to  do  that  which  they  know  they  will  not  be  able  to 
do.  They  say  they  will  come  on  Monday;  they  do  not  come 
until  Wednesday.  They  say  they  will  come  Wednesday; 
they  do  not  come  until  Saturday.  They  say  they  will  have 
the  job  done  in  ten  days;  they  do  not  get  it  done  before 
thirty.  And  then  when  a  man  becomes  irritated  and  will 
not  stand  it  any  longer,  then  they  go  and  work  for  him  a  day 
or  two  and  keep  the  job  along;  and  then  some  one  else  gets 
irritated  and  outraged  and  they  go  and  work  for  that  man 
and  get  him  pacified,  and  then  they  go  somewhere  else.  I 
believe  they  call  that  "nursing  the  job!"  How  much  dis- 
honor such  men  would  save  their  souls  if  they  would  promise 
to  do  only  that  which  they  know  they  can  do.  "Oh,"  they 
say,  "it's  of  no  importance;  everybody  expects  to  be  deceived 
and  disappointed."  There  is  a  voice  of  thunder  sounding 
among  the  saws  and  hammers  and  the  shears,  saying:  "All 
liars  shall  have  their  place  in  the  lake  that  burns  with  fire 
and  brimstone."  So  in  all  styles  of  work  there  are  those 
who  are  not  worthy  of  their  work. 

How  much  of  society  is  insecure.  You  hardly  know  what 
to  believe.  They  send  their  regards ;  you  do  not  exactly  know 
whether  it  is  an  expression  of  the  heart,  or  an  external  civility. 
They  ask  you  to  come  to  their  house;  you  hardly  know 
whether  they  really  want  you  to  come.  We  are  all  accus- 
tomed to  take  a  discount  off  of  what  we  hear.  Social  life  is 
struck  through  with  insincerity.  They  apologize  for  the  fact 
that  the  furnace  is  out;  they  have  not  had  any  fire  in  it  all 


LIES. 


313 


winter.  They  apologize  for  the  fare  on  their  table;  they 
never  live  any  better.  They  decry  their  most  luxuriant  enter- 
tainment to  win  a  shower  of  approval  from  you.  They  point 
at  a  picture  on  the  wall  as  a  work  of  one  of  the  old  masters. 
They  say  it  is  an  heirloom  in  the  family.  It  hung  on  the 
wall  of  a  castle.  A  duke  gave  it  to  their  grandfather !  People 
that  will  lie  about  nothing  else  will  lie  about  a  picture.  On 
small  income  we  want  the  world  to  believe  we  are  affluent, 
and  society  to-day  is  struck  through  with  cheat  and  counter- 
feit and  sham.  How  few  people  are  natural!  Frigidity  sails 
around,  iceberg  grinding  against  iceberg.  You  must  not 
laugh  outright;  that  is  vulgar.  You  must  smile.  You  must 
not  dash  quickly  across  the  room ;  that  is  vulgar.  You  must 
glide.  Society  is  a  round  of  bows  and  grins  and  grimaces 
and  oh's  and  ah's  and  he,  he,  he's  and  simperings  and  namby- 
pambyism,  a  whole  world  of  which  is  not  worth  one  good 
round  of  laughter.  From  such  a  hollow  scene  the  tortured 
guest  retires  at  the  close  of  the  evening,  assuring  the  host 
that  he  has  enjoyed  himself.  Society  is  become  so  contorted 
and  deformed  in  this  respect  that  a  mountain  cabin  where 
the  rustics  gather  at  a  quilting  or  an  apple-paring  has  in  it 
more  good  cheer  than  all  the  frescoed  refrigerators  of  the 
metropolis. 

It  is  hardly  worth  your  while  to  ask  an  extreme  Calvinist 
what  an  Arminian  believes.  He  will  tell  you  an  Ar mini  an 
believes  that  man  can  save  himself.  An  Arminian  believes 
no  such  thing.  It  is  hardly  worth  your  while  to  ask  an 
extreme  Arminian  what  a  Calvinist  believes.  He  will  tell  you 
that  a  Calvinist  believes  that  God  made  some  men  just  to 
damn  them.  A  Calvinist  believes  no  such  thing.  It  is 
hardly  worth  your  while  to  ask  a  Pedo-Baptist  what  a  Baptist 
believes.  He  will  tell  you  a  Baptist  believes  that  immersion 
is  necessary  for  salvation.  A  Baptist  does  not  believe  any 
such  thing.  It  is  hardly  worth  your  while  to  ask  a  man, 
who  very  much  hates  Presbyterians,  what  a  Presbyterian 


314 


LIES. 


believes.  He  will  tell  you  that  a  Presbyterian  believes  that 
there  are  infants  in  hell  a  span  long,  and  that  very  phrase 
ology  has  come  down  from  generation  to  generation  in  the 
Christian  Church.  There  never  was  a  Presbyterian  who 
believed  that.  "Oh,"  you  say,  "I  heard  some  Presbyterian 
minister  twenty  years  ago  say  so."  You  did  not.  There 
never  was  a  man  who  believed  that,  there  never  will  be  a  man 
who  will  believe  that.  And  yet  from  boyhood  I  have  heard 
that  particular  slander  against  a  Christian  Church  going 
down  through  the  community. 

Then  how  often  it  is  that  there  are  misrepresentations  on 
the  part  of  individual  churches  in  regard  to  other  churches — 
especially  if  a  church  comes  to  great  prosperity.  As  long  as 
a  church  is  in  poverty,  and  the  singing  is  poor  and  all  the 
surroundings  are  decrepit,  and  the  congregation  are  so  hardly 
bestead  in  life  that  their  pastor  goes  with  elbows  out,  then 
there  will  always  be  Christian  people  in  churches  wTho  say, 
"what  a  pity,  what  a  pity!"  But  let  the  day  of  prosperity 
come  to  a  Christian  Church,  and  let  the  music  be  triumphant, 
and  let  there  be  vast  assemblages,  and  then  there  will  be  even 
ministers  of  the  Gospel  critical  and  denunciatory  and  full  of 
misrepresentation  and  falsification,  giving  the  impression  to 
the  outside  world  that  they  do  not  like  the  corn  because  it  is 
not  ground  in  their  mill.  Oh,  my  friends,  let  us  in  all 
departments  of  life  stand  back  from  deception. 

"Oh,"  says  some  one,  "the  deception  that  I  practice  is  so 
small  it  don't  amount  to  anything."  It  does  amount  to  a 
great  deal.  You  say,  "when  I  deceive  it  is  only  about  a  case 
of  needles,  or  a  box  of  buttons,  or  a  row  of  pins."  But  the 
article  may  be  so  small  you  can  put  it  in  your  vest  pocket, 
but  the  sin  is  as  big  as  the  pyramids,  and  the  echo  of  your 
dishonor  will  reverberate  through  the  mountains  of  eternity. 
There  is  no  such  thing  as  a  small  sin.  They  are  all  vast  and 
stupendous,  because  they  will  all  have  to  come  under  inspec- 
tion in  the  Day  of  Judgment. 


CHAPTER  XXIV. 


STRIPPING  THE  SLAIN. 


Some  of  you  were  at  South  Mountain  or  Shiloh  or  Ball's 
Bluff  or  Gettysburg,  and  I  ask  you  if  there  is  any  sadder 
sight  than  a  battle-field  after  the  guns  have  stopped  firing? 
I  walked  across  the  field 
of  Antietam  just  after  the" 
conflict.  The  scene  was 
so  sickening  I  shall  not 
desciibe  it.  Every  valua- 
ble thing  had  been  taken 
from  the  bodies  of  the 
dead,  for  there  are  always 
vultures  hovering  over  and 
around  about  an  army,  aiill 
they  pick  up  the  watches, 
and  the  memorandum 
books,  and  the  letters,  and 
the  daguerreotypes,  and  the 
hats,  and  the  coats,  applying  them  to  their  own  uses.  The 
dead  make  no  resistance.  So  there  are  always  camp  followers 
going  on  after  an  army,  as  when  Scott  went  down  into 
Mexico,  as  when  Napoleon  marched  up  toward  Moscow,  as 
when  Van  Moltke  went  to  Sedan.  Saul  and  his  army  had 
been  horribly  cut  to  pieces.  Mount  Gilboa  was  ghastly  with 
the  dead.  On  the  morrow  the  stragglers  came  on  to  the  field, 
and  they  lifted  the  lachet  of  the  helmet  from  under  the  chin 
of  the  dead,  and  they  picked  up  the  swords  and  bent  them 
on  their  knee  to  test  the  temper  of  the  metal,  and  they  opened 
the  wallets  and  counted  the  coin.    Saul  lay  dead  along  the 

(315) 


GEN.  WINFIELD  SCOTT. 


STRIPPING   THE  SLAIN. 


ground,  eight  or  nine  feet  in  length,  and  I  suppose  the  cow- 
ardly Philistines,  to  show  their  bravery,  leaped  upon  the 
trunk  of  his  carcass,  and  jeered  at  the  fallen  slain,  and 

whistled  through  the  mouth 
of  the  helmet.  Before  night, 
those  cormorants  had  taken 
everything  valuable  from  the 
field;  "And  it  came  to  pass 
on  the  morrow,  when  the 
Philistines  came  to  strip  the 
slain,  that  thev  found  Saul 
and  his  three  sons  fallen  in 
Mount  Gilboa." 

I  will  show  you  that  the 
same  process  is  going  on  all 
the  world  over,  and  every 
day,  and  that  when  men  have 
fallen,  Satan  and  the  world, 
so  far  from  pitying  them  or 
helping  them,  go  to  work  remorselessly  to  take  what  little  is 
left,  thus  stripping  the  slain. 

There  are  tens  of  thousands  of  young  men  every  year 
coming  from  the  country  to  our  great  cities.  They  come 
with  brave  hearts  and  grand  expectations.  They  think  they 
will  be  Eufus  Choates  in  the  law,  or  Drapers  in  chemistry, 
or  A.  T.  Stewarts  in  merchandise.  The  country  lads  sit 
down  in  the  village  grocery,  with  their  feet  on  the  iron  rod 
around  the  red-hot  stove,  in  the  evening,  talking  over  the 
prospects  of  the  young  man  who  has  gone  off  to  the  city. 
Two  or  three  of  them  think  that  perhaps  he  may  get  along 
very  well  and  succeed,  but  the  most  of  them  prophesy  fail- 
ure; for  it  is  very  hard  to  think  that  those  whom  we  knew  in 
boyhood  will  ever  make  any  stir  in  the  world.  But  our 
young  man  has  a  fine  position  in  a  dry  goods  store.  The 
month  is  over.    He  gets  his  wages.    He  is  not  accustomed 


NAPOLEON  I. 


STEIPPING  THE  SLAIN. 


317 


to  have  so  mucn  money  belonging  to  himself.  He  is  a  little 
excited  and  does  not  exactly  know  what  to  do  with  it,  and  he 
spends  it  in  some  places  where  he  ought  not.  Soon  there 
come  up  new  companions  and  acquaintances  from  the  bar- 
rooms and  the  saloons  of  the  city.  Soon  that  young  man 
begins  to  waver  in  the  battle  of  temptation,  and  soon  his 
soul  goes  down.  In  a  few  months  or  a  few  years  he  has 
fallen.  He  is  morally  dead.  He  is  a  mere  corpse  of  what 
he  once  was.  The  harpies  of  sin  snuff  up  the  taint  and 
come  on  the  field.  His  garments  gradually  give  out.  He 
has  pawned  his  watch.  His  health  is  failing  him.  His 
credit  perishes.  He  is  too  poor  to  stay  in  the  city,  and  he  is 
too  poor  to  pay  his  way  home  to  the  country.  Down !  Down ! 
Why  do  the  low  fellows  of  the  city  now  stick  to  him  so 
closely?  Is  it  to  help  him  back  to  a  moral  and  spiritual 
life?  0,  no.  I  will  tell  you  why  they  stay  ;  they  are  the 
Philistines  stripping  the  slain. 

There  is  a  man  who  once  had  a  beautiful  home.  His 
house  had  elegant  furniture,  his  children  were  beautifully 
clad,  his  name  was  synonymous  with  honor  and  usefulness; 
but  evil  habit  knocked  at  his  front  door,  knocked  at  his  back 
door,  knocked  at  his  parlor  door,  knocked  at  his  bedroom 
door.  Where  is  the  piano?  Sold  to  pay  the  rent.  Where 
is  the  hat-rack?  Sold  to  meet  the  butcher's  bill.  Where  are 
the  carpets?  Sold  to  get  bread.  Where  is  the  wardrobe? 
Sold  to  get  rum.  Where  are  the  daughters?  Working 
their  fingers  off  in  trying  to  keep  the  family  together.  Worse 
and  worse,  until  everything  is  gone.  Who  is  that  going  up 
the  front  steps  of  that  house?  That  is  a  creditor,  hoping  to 
find  some  chair  or  bed  that  has  not  been  levied  upon. 
Who  are  those  two  gentlemen  now  going  up  the  front  steps? 
The  one  is  a  constable,  the  other  is  the  sheriff.  Why 
do  they  go  there?  The  unfortunate  is  morally  dead, 
socially  dead,  financially  dead.  Why  do  they  go  there?  I 
will  tell  you  why  the  creditors  and  the  constables  and  the 


STRIPPING  THE  SLAIN. 


sheriffs  go  there.  They  are,  some  on  their  own  account,  ana 
some  on  account  of  the  law,  stripping  the  slain. 

An  ex-member  of  Congress,  one  of  the  most  eloquent 
men  that  ever  stood  in  the  House  of  Eepresentatives,  said  in 
his  last  moments:  "  This  is  the  end.  I  am  dying — dying 
on  a  borrowed  bed,  covered  by  a  borrowed  sheet,  in  a 
house  built  by  public  charity.  Bury  me  under  that  tree  in 
the  middle  of  the  field,  where  I  shall  not  be  crowded,  for  1 
•have  been  crowded  all  my  life."  Where  were  the  jolly  poli- 
ticians and  the  dissipating  comrades  who  had  been  with  him, 
laughing  at  his  jokes,  applauding  his  eloquence,  and  plung- 
ing him  into  sin?  They  have  left.  Why?  His  money  is 
gone,  his  reputation  is  gone,  his  wit  is  gone,  his  clothes  are 
gone,  everything  is  gone.  Why  should  they  stay  any  longer? 
They  have  completed  their  work.  They  have  stripped  the 
slain. 

There  is  another  way,  however,  of  doing  that  same  work. 
Here  is  man  who,  through  his  sin,  is  prostrate.  He  ac- 
knowledges that  he  has  done  wrong.  Now  is  the  time  for 
you  to  go  to  that  man  and  say:  "  Thousands  of  people  have 
been  as  far  astray  as  you  are,  and  got  back."  Now  is  the 
time  for  you  to  goto  that  man  and  tell  him  of  the  omnipotent 
grace  of  God  that  is  sufficient  for  any  poor  soul.  Now  is 
the  time  to  go  to  tell  him  how  swearing  John  Bunyan, 
through  the  grace  of  God,  afterwards  came  to  the  celestial 
city.  Now  is  the  time  to  go  to  that  man  and  tell  him  how 
profligate  Newton  came,  through  conversion,  to  be  a  world- 
renowned  preacher  of  righteousness.  Now  is  the  time  to 
tell  that  man  that  multitudes  who  have  been  pounded  with  all 
the  flails  of  sin,  and  dragged  through  all  the  sewers  of  pol- 
lution, at  last  have  risen  to  positive  dominion  of  moral  power. 
You  do  not  tell  him  that,  do  you?  No.  You  say  to  him,  "Loan 
you  money?  No.  You  are  down.  You  will  have  to  go  to 
the  dogs.  Lend  you  a  shilling?  I  would  not  lend  you  two 
cents  to  keep  you  from  the  gallows.    You  are  debauched. 


STRIPPING  THE  SLAIN. 


319 


Get  out  of  my  sight  now.  Down;  you  will  have  to  stay 
down."  And  thus  these  bruised  and  battered  men  are  some- 
times accosted  by  those  who  ought  to  lift  them  up.  Thus  the 
last  vestige  of  hope  is  taken  from  them.  Thus  those  who 
ought  to  go  and  lift  and  save  them  are  guilty  of  stripping  the 
slain.  The  point  I  want  to  make  is  this:  Sin  is  hard,  cruel 
and  merciless.  Instead  of  helping  a  man  up  it  helps  him 
down;  and  when,  like  Saul  and  his  comrades,  you  lie  on  the 
field,  it  will  come  and  steal  your  sword  and  helmet  and 
shield,  leaving  you  to  the  jackal  and  the  crow. 

But  the  world  and  Satan  do  not  do  all  their  work  with  the 
outcast  and  abandoned.  A  respectable,  impenitent  man 
comes  to  die.  He  is  flat  on  his  back.  He  could  not  get  up 
if  the  house  were  on  fire.  Adroitest  medical  skill  and  gen- 
tlest nursing  have  been  a  failure.  He  has  come  to  his  last 
hour.  What  does  Satan  do  for  such  a  man?  Why  he  fetches 
up  all  the  inapt,  disagreeable,  and  harrowing  things  in  his 
life.  He  says :  "  Do  you  remember  those  chances  you  had 
for  heaven,  and  missed  them?  Do  you  remember  all  those 
lapses  in  conduct?  Do  you  remember  all  those  opprobrious 
words  and  thoughts  and  actions?  Don't  remember  them, 
eh?  I'll  make  you  remember  them."  And  then  he  takes  all 
the  past  and  empties  it  on  that  death-bed,  as  the  mail 
bags  are  emptied  on  the  post-office  floor.  The  man  is  sick. 
He  cannot  get  away  from  them.  Then  the  man  says  to 
Satan:  "You  have  deceived  me.  You  told  me  that  all  would 
be  well.  You  said  there  would  be  no  trouble  at  the  last. 
You  told  me  if  I  did  so  and  so  you  would  do  so  and  so- 
Now  you  corner  me,  and  hedge  me  up,  and  submerge  me  in 
everything  evil."  "  Ha!  ha!  "  says  Satan,  "I  was  only  fool- 
ing you.  It  is  mirth  for  me  to  see  you  suffer.  I  have  been 
for  thirty  years  plotting  to  get  you  just  where  you  are.  It 
is  hard  for  you  now — it  will  be  worse  for  you  after  a  while. 
It  pleases  me.  Lie  still,  sir.  Don't  flinch  or  shudder. 
Come  now,  I  will  tear  off  from  you  the  last  rag  of  expecta- 


320 


STRIPPING  THE  SLAIN. 


tion.  I  will  rend  away  from  your  soul  the  last  hope.  I  will 
leave  you  bare  for  the  beating  of  the  storm.  It  is  my 
business  to  strip  the  slain." 

While  men  are  in  robust  health,  and  their  digestion  is 
good,  and  their  nerves  are  strong,  they  think  their  physical 
strength  will  get  them  safely  through  the  last  exigency. 
They  say  it  is  only  cowardly  women  who  are  afraid  at  the 
last,  and  cry  out  for  God.  "  Wait  till  I  come  to  die.  I  will 
show  you.  You  won't  hear  me  pray,  nor  call  for  a  minister, 
nor  want  a  chapter  read  me  from  the  Bible. "  But  after  the 
man  has  been  three  weeks  in  a  sick  room  his  nerves  are  not 
so  steady,  and  his  worldly  companions  are  not  anywhere 
near  to  cheer  him  up,  and  he  is  persuaded  that  he  must  quit 
life,  his  physical  courage  is  all  gone.  He  jumps  at  the  fall 
of  a  tea-spoon  in  a  saucer.  He  shivers  at  the  ide  of  going 
away.  He  says:  "  Wife,  I  don't  think  my  infidelity  is  going 
to  take  me  through.  For  God's  sake  don't  bring  up  the 
children  to  do  as  I  have  done.  If  you  feel  like  it  I  wish  you 
you  would  read  a  verse  or  two  out  of  Fannie 's  Sabbath  - 
school  hymn-book  or  New  Testament.  But  Satan  breaks 
in,  and  says  •  "  You  have  always  thought  religion  trash  and 
a  lie;  don't  give  up  at  the  last.  Besides  that,  you  cannot, 
in  the  hour  you  have  to  live,  get  off  on  that  track.  Die  as 
you  lived.  With  my  great  black  wings  I  shut  out  that  light. 
Die  in  darkness.  I  rend  away  from  you  that  last  vestige  of 
hope.    It  is  my  business  to  strip  the  slain." 

A  man  who  had  rejected  Christianity,  and  thought  it  all 
trash,  came  to  die.  He  was  in  the  sweat  of  a  great  agony, 
and  his  wife  said:  "We  had  better  have  some  prayer." 
"Mary,  not  a  breath  of  that,"  he  said.  "  The  lightest  word 
of  prayer  would  roll  back  on  me  like  rocks  on  a  drowning 
man.  I  have  come  to  the  hour  of  test.  I  had  a  chance,  and 
I  forfeited  it.  I  believed  in  a  liar,  and  he  has  left  me  in  the 
lurch.  Mary,  bring  me  Tom  Paine,  the  book  that  I  swore  by 
and  lived  by,  and  pitch  it  in  the  fire,  and  let  it  burn  and  burn 


STRIPPING  THE  SLAIN. 


321 


as  I  myself  shall  soon  burn."  And  then,  with  the  foam  on 
his  lip,  and  his  hands  tossing  wildly  in  the  air,  he  cried  out: 
" Blackness  of  darkness!  0,  my  God,  too  late!"  And  the 
spirits  of  darkness  whistled  up  from  the  depth,  and  wheeled 
around  and  around  him,  stripping  the  slain. 

Sin  is  a  luxury  now ;  it  is  exhilaration  now ;  it  is  victory 
now.  But  after  a  while  it  is  collision;  it  is  defeat;  it  is 
extermination;  it  is  jackalism;  it  is  robbing  the  dead;  it  is 
stripping  the  slain.  Give  it  up.  0,  how  you  have  been 
cheated  on,  from  one  thing  to  another.  All  these  years  you 
have  been  under  an  evil  mastery  that  you  understood  not. 
What  have  your  companions  done  for  you?  What  have  they 
done  for  your  health?  Nearly  ruined  it  by  carousal.  What 
have  they  done  for  your  fortune?  Almost  scattered  it  by 
spendthrift  behavior.  What  have  they  done  for  your  reputa- 
tion? Almost  ruined  it  with  good  men.  What  have  they 
done  for  your  immortal  soul.  Almost  insured  its  overthrow. 
You  are  hastening  on  toward  the  consummation  of  all  that 
is  sad.  You  stop  and  think,  but  it  is  only  for  a  moment, 
and  then  you  will  tramp  on,  and  the  tremendous  fact  remains 
that,  if  impenitent,  you  are  going  at  eighteen  knots  an  hour 
towards  shipwreck !  Yea,  you  are  in  a  battle  where  you  will 
fall ;  and  while  your  surviving  relatives  will  take  your  remain- 
ing estate,  and  the  cemetery  will  take  your  body,  the  mes- 
sengers of  darkness  will  take  your  soul  and  come  and  go  about 
you  for  the  next  ten  million  years,  stripping  the  slain. 

Many  are  crying  out:  "I  admit  I  am  slain,  I  admit  it." 
On  what  battle-field,  my  brothers?  By  what  weapon? 
"Polluted  imagination,"  says  one  man;  ''Intoxicating  liquor," 
says  another  man;  "My  own  hard  heart,"  says  another  man. 
Do  you  realize  this?  Then  I  come  to  tell  you  that  the  omnip- 
otent Christ  is  ready  to  walk  across  this  battle-field  and 
revive  and  resuscitate  and  resurrect  your  dead  soul.  Let 
Him  take  your  hand  and  rub  away  the  numbness ;  your  head, 
and  bathe  off  the  aching;  your  heart,  and  stop  its  wild  throb. 


322 


STRIPPING  THE  SLAIN. 


He  brought  Lazarus  to  life;  He  brought  Jairus's  daughter  to 
life;  He  brought  the  young  man  of  Nain  to  life;  and  these 
are  three  proofs  anyhow  that  He  can  bring  you  to  life. 

When  the  Philistines  came  down  on  the  field,  they  stepped 
between  the  corpses,  and  they  rolled  over  the  dead,  and  they 
took  away  everything  that  was  valuable ;  and  so  it  was  with 
the  people  that  followed  after  our  army  at  Chancellorsville, 
and  at  Pittsburg  Landing,  and  at  Stone  Eiver,  and  at  Atlanta, 
stripping  the  slain ;  but  the  Northern  and  Southern  women 
— God  bless  them —  came  on  the  field  with  basins  and  pads 
and  towels  and  lint  and  cordials  and  Christian  encourage- 
ment, and  the  poor  fellows  that  lay  there  lifted  up  their  arms 
and  said:  "Oh,  how  good  that  doe's  feel  since  you  dressed 
it;"  and  others  looked  up  and  said:  "Oh,  how  you  make  me 
think  of  my  mother;"  and  others  said:  "Tell  the  folks  at 
home  I  died  thinking  about  them;"  and  another  looked  up 
and  said:  "Miss,  won't  you  sing  me  a  verse  of  'Home,  Sweet 
Home'  before  I  die?"  And  then  the  tattoo  was  sounded,  and 
the  hats  were  off,  and  the  service  was  read:  "I  am  the  resur- 
rection and  the  life,"  and  in  honor  of  the  departed  the 
muskets  were  loaded  and  the  command  given:  "Take  aim — 
fire!"    And  there  was  a  shingle  set  up  at  the  head  of  the 

grave  with  the  epitaph  of  "Lieutenant  in  the  Fourteenth 

Massachusetts  Begulars,"  or  "Captain- — in  the  Fifteenth 
Eegiment  of  South  Carolina  Volunteers."  And  so,  across 
this  great  field  of  moral  and  spiritual  battle,  the  angels  of 
God  come  walking  among  the  slain,  and  there  are  voices  of 
comfort  and  voices  of  hope  and  voices  of  resurrection  and 
voices  of  heaven. 

Oh,  the  slain!  the  slain!  Christ  is  ready  to  give  life  to 
the  dead.  He  will  make  the  deaf  ear  to  hear,  the  blind  eye 
to  see,  the  pulseless  heart  to  beat,  and  the  damp  walls  of 
your  spiritual  charnel  house  will  crash  into  ruin  at  His  cry: 
"Come  forth!"  I  verily  believe  there  are  souls  who  are  now 
dead  in  sin,  who  in  half  an  hour  will  be  alive  forever.  There 


THE  RAISING  OF  JAIRUS'  DAUGHTER. 


STRIPPING  THE  SLAIN. 


325 


was  a  thrilling  dream,  a  glorious  dream — you  may  have 
heard  of  it.  Ezekiel  closed  his  eyes,  and  he  saw  two  moun- 
tains, and  a  valley  between  the  mountains.  The  valley 
looked  as  though  there  had  been  a  great  battle  there,  and  a 
whole  army  had  been  slain,  and  they  had  been  unburied;  and 
the  heat  of  the  land,  and  the  vultures  coming  there>  soon  the 
bones  were  exposed  to  the  sun,  and  they  looked  like  thou- 
sands of  snow  drifts  all  through  the  valley.  Frightful  spec- 
tacle !  The  bleaching  skeletons  of  a  host !  But  Ezekiel  still 
kept  his  eyes  shut;  and  lo,  there  were  four  currents  of  wind 
that  struck  that  battle-field,  and  when  those  four  currents  of 
wind  met,  the  bones  began  to  rattle ;  and  the  foot  came  to 
the  ankle,  and  the  hand  came  to  the  wrist,  and  the  jaws 
clashed  together,  and  the  spinal  column  gathered  up  the 
ganglions  and  the  nervous  fibre,  and  all  the  valley  wriggled 
and  writhed  and  throbbed  and  rocked  and  rose  up.  There, 
a  man  coming  to  life.  There,  a  hundred  men.  There,  a 
thousand;  and  all  falling  into  line  waiting  for  the  shout  of 
their  commander.  Ten  thousand  bleached  skeletons  spring- 
ing up  into  ten  thousand  warriors,  panting  for  the  fray.  I 
hope  that  instead  of  being  a  dream  it  may  be  a  prophecy  of 
what  we  shall  see  for  there  are  many  thousand  without  one 
pulsation  of  spiritual  life.  I  look  off  in  one  direction,  and  they 
are  dead.  I  look  off  in  another  direction,  and  they  are  dead. 
Who  will  bring  them  to  life?  Who  shall  rouse  them  up?  If  I 
should  halloo  at  the  top  of  my  voice  I  could  not  wake  them. 
Wait  a  moment !  Listen !  There  is  a  rustling.  There  is  a  gale 
from  heaven.  It  comes  from  the  north  and  from  the  south, 
and  from  the  east  and  from  the  west.  It  shuts  us  in.  It 
blows  upon  the  slain.  There,  a  soul  begins  to  move  in  spiri- 
tual life;  there,  ten  souls;  there,  a  score  of  souls;  there,  a 
hundred  souls.  The  nostril  throbbing  in  devine  respiration, 
the  hands  lifted  as  though  to  take  hold  of  heaven,  the  tongue 
moving  as  in  prayer  and  adoration.  Life!  immortal  life 
coming  into  the  slain.    Ten  men  for  God — fifty — a  hundred 


326 


STRIPPING  THE  SLAIN. 


— a  regiment  —an  army  for  God.  In  Ezekiel's  words,  and 
in  almost  a  frenzy  of  prayer,  I  cry:  "Come  from  the  four 
winds,  0  Breath,  and  breathe  upon  the  slain." 

You  will  have  to  surrender  your  heart  to  God.  You 
cannot  take  the  responsibility  of  fighting  against  the  Spirit 
in  this  crisis,  which  will  decide  whether  you  are  to  go  to 
heaven  or  to  hell — to  join  the  hallelujahs  of  the  saved,  or 
the  bowlings  of  the  damned.  You  must  pray.  You  must 
repent.  You  must  fling  your  sinful  soul  on  the  pardoning 
mercy  of  God.  You  must.  I  see  your  resolution  against 
God  giving  way.  Your  determination  wavering.  I  break 
through  the  breach  in  the  wall  and  follow  up  the  advantage 
gained,  hoping  to  rout  your  last  opposition  to  Christ,  and 
make  you  "ground  arms"  at  the  feet  of  the  Divine  Conqueror. 
0,  you  must!  You  must!  The  moon  does  not  ask  the  tides 
of  the  Atlantic  ocean  to  rise.  It  only  stoops  down  with  two 
great  hands  of  light,  the  one  at  the  European  beach  and  the 
other  at  the  American  beach,  and  then  lifts  the  great  laver 
of  molten  silver.  And  God,  it  seems  to  me,  is  now  going  to 
lift  you  to  newness  of  life.  Do  you  not  feel  the  swellings  of 
the  great  oceanic  tides  of  divine  mercy?  My  heart  is  in 
anguish  to  have  you  saved.  For  this  I  pray  and  long,  glad 
to  be  called  a  fool  for  Christ's  sake  and  your  salvation.  The 
work  has  all  been  done.  Christ  did  it  with  His  own  torn 
hand  and  lacerated  foot  and  bleeding  side.  He  took  your 
place  and  died  your  death,  if  you  would  only  believe  it,  only 
accept  Him  as  your  substitute.  "But,"  you  say,  "how  am  I 
to  get  up  to  that  feeling?"  I  reply,  the  Holy  Spirit  is  ready 
to  help  you  up  to  that  feeling,  if  you  will  only  ask  Him. 

What  an  amazing  pity  that  any  man  should  go  unblessed, 
when  such  a  large  blessing  is  offered  him  at  less  cost  than 
you  would  pay  for  a  pin — "without  money  and  without  price." 
I  have  driven  down  with  the  Lord's  ambulance  to  the  battle- 
field where  your  soul  lies  exposed  to  the  darkness  and  the 
storm,  and  I  want  to  lift  you  in  and  drive  off  with  you 


STRIPPING  THE  SLAIN. 


337 


towards  heaven.  0,  Christians,  by  your  prayers  help  lift 
these  wounded  souls  into  the  ambulance.  God  forbid  that 
any  should  be  left  on  the  field,  and  that  at  last  eternal  sor- 
row and  remorse  and  despair  sbouu  some  up  around  their 
soul  like  tne  bandit  Philistines  to  the  field  of  Gilboa,  strip- 
ping the  slain. 


CHAPTER  XXY. 


PITFAIXS. 

If,  in  the  time  when  people  traveled  afoot  or  on  camel- 
back,  and  vacillation  from  city  to  city  was  seldom,  it  was 
important  that  Solomon  re'cognize  the  presence  of  strangers, 
how  much  more  important,  now  in  these  days,  when  by 
railroad  and  steamboat  the  population  of  the  earth  are 
always  in  motion,  and  from  one  year's  end  to  the  other,  our 
cities  are  crowded  with  visitors,  the  depots  and  wharves  are 
a-rumble  and  a- clang  with  the  coming  in  of  a  great  immi- 
gration of  strangers.  Some  of  them  come  for  purposes  of 
barter,  some  for  mechanism,  some  for  artistic  gratification, 
some  for  sight-seeing.  A  great  many  of  them  go  out  on  the 
evening  trains,  and  consequently  the  city  makes  but  little 
impression  upon  them;  but  there  are  multitudes  who,  in  the 
hotels  and  boarding  houses,  make  temporary  residence. 
They  tarry  here  for  three  or  four  days,  or  as  many  weeks. 
They  spend  the  days  in  the  stores  and  the  evenings  in  sight- 
seeing. Their  temporary  stay  will  make  or  break  them,  not 
only  financially  but  morally,  for  this  world  and  the  world 
that  is  to  come.  Multitudes  of  them  come  into  morning  and 
evening  services,  those  unknown  to  others,  whose  history,  if 
told,  would  be  more  thrilling  than  the  deepest  tragedy,  more 
exciting  than  Nilsson's  song,  more  bright  than  a  spring  morn- 
ing more  awful  than  a  wintry  midnight.  If  they  could  stand 
up  and  tell  the  story  of  their  escapes,  and  their  temptations, 
and  their  bereavements,  and  their  disasters,  and  their  victo- 
ries, and  their  defeats,  there  would  be  such  a  commingling 
of  groans  and  acclamations  as  would  prove  unendurable. 

There  is  a  man  who,  in  infancy,  lay  in  a  cradle  satin- 

(328) 


330 


PITFALLS. 


lined.  There  is  a  man  who  was  picked  tip,  a  foundling,  on 
Boston  Common.  Here  is  a  man  who  coolly  observes  Sab- 
bath service,  expecting  no  advantage,  and  caring  for  no 
advantage  for  himself ;  while  yonder  is  a  man  who  has  been 
for  ten  years  in  an  awful  conflagration  of  evil  habits  and  is  a 
mere  cinder  of  a  destroyed  nature,  and  he  wonders  if  there 
shall  be  any  escape  or  help  for  his  immortal  soul.  St. 
Paul's  ship  at  Melita  went  to  pieces  where  two  seas  meet; 
but  we  stand  at  a  point  where  a  thousand  seas  converge, 
and  eternity  alone  can  tell  the  issue  of  the  hour. 

The  hotels  of  this  country,  for  beauty  and  elegance,  are 
not  surpassed  by  the  hotels  in  any  other  land;  but  those  that 
are  most  celebrated  for  brilliancy  of  tapestry  and  mirror 
cannot  give  to  the  guest  any  costly  apartment,  unless 
he  can  afford  a  parlor  in  addition  to  his  lodging.  The 
stranger,  therefore,  will  generally  find  assigned  to  him  a 
room  without  any  pictures,  and  perhaps  any  rocking  chair! 
He  will  find  a  box  of  matches  on  a  bureau,  and  an  old  news- 
paper left  by  the  previous  occupant,  and  that  will  be  about 
all  the  ornamentation.  At  seven  o'clock  in  the  evening, 
after  having  taken  his  repast,  he  will  look  over  his  memo- 
randum-book of  the  day's  work;  he  will  write  a  letter  to  his 
home,  and  then  a  desperation  will  seize  upon  him  to  get  out. 
You  hear  the  great  city  thundering  under  your  windows,  and 
you  say:  "  I  must  join  that  procession,"  and  in  ten  minutes 
you  have  joined  it.  Where  are  you  going?  "  Oh,"  you  say, 
"  I  haven't  made  up  my  mind  yet."  Better  make  up  your 
mind  before  you  start.  Perhaps  the  very  way  you  go  now 
you  will  always  go.  Twenty  years  ago  there  were  young 
men  who  came  down  the  Astor  House  steps,  and  started  out 
in  a  wrong  direction,  where  they  have  been  going  ever  since. 

"Well,  where  are  you  going?"  says  one  man.  "I  am 
going  to  the  Academy  to  hear  some  music."  Good.  I  would 
like  to  join  you  at  the  door.  At  the  tap  of  the  orchestral 
baton,  all  the  gates  of  harmony  and  beauty  will  open  before 


PITFALLS. 


331 


your  soul.  I  congratulate  you.  Where  are  you  going? 
"Well,"  you  say,  "I  am  going  up  to  see  some  advertised 
pictures."  Good.  I  should  like  to  go  along  with  you  and 
look  over  the  same  catalogue,  and  study  with  you  Kensett, 
and  Bierstadt,  and  Church,  and  Moran.  Nothing  more  ele- 
vating than  good  pictures.  Where  are  you  going?  "Well," 
you  say,  "I  am  going  up  to  the  Young  Men's  Christian  Asso- 
ciation rooms."  Good.  You  will  find  there  gymnastics  to 
strengthen  the  muscles,  and  books  to  improve  the  mind,  and 
Christian  influence  to  save  the  soul.  Where  are  you  going? 
"Well,"  you  say,  "I  am  going  to  take  a  long  walk  up  Broad- 
way, and  so  turn  around  into  the  Bowery.  I  am  going  to 
study  human  life."  Good.  A  walk  through  Broadway  at 
eight  o'clock  at  night  is  interesting,  educating,  fascinating, 
appalling,  exhilarating  to  the  last  degree.  Stop  in  front  of 
that  theater,  and  see  who  goes  in.  Stop  at  that  saloon,  and 
see  who  comes  out.  See  the  great  tides  of  life  surging  back- 
ward and  forward,  and  beating  against  the  marble  of  the 
curbstone,  and  eddying  down  into  the  saloons.  What  is  that 
mark  on  the  face  of  that  debauchee?  It  is  the  hectic  flush 
of  eternal  death.  What  is  that  Woman's  laughter?  It  is 
the  shriek  of  a  lost  soul.  Who  is  that  Christian  man  going 
along  with  a  phial  of  anodyne  to  the  dying  pauper.  Who  is 
that  belated  man  on  the  way  to  a  prayer-meeting?  Who  is 
that  city  missionary  going  to  take  a  box  in  which  to  bury  a 
child?  Who  are  all  these  clusters  of  bright  and  beautiful 
faces?  They  are  going  to  some  interesting  place  of  amuse- 
ment. Who  is  that  man  going  into  the  drug-store?  That 
is  the  man  who  yesterday  lost  all  his  fortune  on  Wall  street. 
He  is  going  in  for  a  dose  of  belladonna,  and  before  morning 
it  will  make  no  difference  to  him  whether  stocks  are  up  or 
down.  I  tell  you  that  Broadway,  between  seven  and  twelve 
o'clock  at  night,  is  an  Austerlitz,  a  Gettysburg,  a  Waterloo, 
where  kingdoms  are  lost  or  won,  and  three  worlds  mingle  in 
the  strife. 


332 


PITFALLS. 


I  meet  another  coming  down  off  the  hotel  steps,  and  I 
say:  4 4 Where  are  you  going?"  You  say:  "I  am  going 
with  a  merchant  of  New  York  who  has  promised  to-night  to 
show  me  the  underground  life  of  the  city.  I  am  his  customer, 
and  he  is  going  to  oblige  me  very  much.,,  Stop !  A  business 
house  that  tries  to  get  or  keep  your  custom  through  such  a 
process  as  that,  is  not  worthy  of  you.  There  are  business 
establishments  in  our  cities  which  have  for  years  been  sending 
to  eternal  destruction  hundreds  and  thousands  of  merchants. 
They  have  a  secret  drawer  in  the  counter,  where  money  is 
kept,  and  the  clerk  goes  and  gets  it  when  he  wants  to  take 
these  visitors  to  the  city  through  the  low  slums  of  the  place. 
Shall  I  mention  the  names  of  some  of  these  great  commercial 
establishments?  I  have  them  on  my  lip.  Shall  1?  Per- 
haps I  had  better  leave  it  to  the  young  men  who,  in  that 
process,  have  been  destroyed  themselves  while  they  have  been 
destroying  others.  I  care  not  how  high-sounding  the  name 
of  a  commercial  establishment,  if  it  proposes  to  get  customers 
or  to  keep  them  by  such  a  process  as  that;  drop  their 
acquaintance.  They  will  cheat  you  before  you  get  through. 
They  will  send  to  you  a  style  of  goods  different  from  that 
which  you  bought  by  sample.  They  will  give  you  under- 
weight. There  will  be  in  the  package  half-a-dozen  less  pairs 
of  suspenders  than  you  paid  for.  They  will  rob  you.  Oh, 
you  feel  in  your  pockets  and  say:  "Is  my  money  gone?" 
They  have  robbed  you  of  something  for  which  pounds  and 
shillings  can  never  give  you  compensation.  When  one  of 
these  merchants  has  been  dragged  by  one  of  these  commercial 
agents  through  the  slums  of  the  city,  he  is  not  fit  to  go  home. 
The  mere  memory  of  what  he  has  seen  will  be  moral  pollu- 
tion, unless  he  go  on  positive  Christian  errand.  I  think  you 
had  better  let  the  city  missionary  and  the  police  and  the 
Christian  reformer  attend  to  the  exploration  of  underground 
life.  You  do  not  go  to  a  small-pox  hospital  for  the  purpose 
of  exploration.    You  do  not  go  there,  because  you  are  afraid 


PITFALLS. 


333 


of  the  contagion.  And  yet,  you  go  into  the  presence  of  a 
moral  leprosy  that  is  as  much  more  dangerous  to  you  as  the 
death  of  the  soul  is  worse  than  the  death  of  the  body.  I  will 
undertake  to  say  that  nine-tenths  of  the  men  who  have  been 
ruined  in  our  cities  have  been  ruined  by  simply  going  to 
observe  without  any  idea  of  participating.    The  fact  is  that 


JEAN  PAUL  MARAT,  THE  JACOBIN. 


underground  city  life  is  a  filthy,  fuming,  reeking,  pestiferous 
depth  which  may  blast  the  eye  that  looks  at  it.  In  the  Reign 
of  Terror,  in  1792,  in  Paris,  people,  escaping  from  the  officers 
of  the  law,  got  into  the  sewers  of  the  city,  and  crawled  and 
walked  through  miles  of  that  awful  labyrinth,  stifled  with 
the  atmosphere  and  almost  dead,  some  of  them,  when  they 
came  out  to  the  river  Seine,  where  they  washed  themselves 
and  again  breathed  the  fresh  air.  But  I  have  to  tell  you  that 
a  great  many  of  the  men  who  go  on  the  work  of  exploration 
through  the  underground  gutters  of  life,  never  come  out  at 
any  Seine  river  where  they  can  wash  off  the  pollution  of  the 


334 


PITFALLS. 


moral  sewerage.  Stranger,  if  one  of  the  "drummers"  of  the 
city,  as  they  are  called — if  one  of  the  "drummers"  propose 
to  take  you  and  show  you  the  "sights"  of  the  town  say  to 
him:     "Please,  sir,  what  part  do  you  propose  to  show  me?" 

Sabhath  morning  comes.  You  wake  up  in  the  hotel. 
You  have  had  a  longer  sleep  than  usual.  You  say:  "Where 
am  I?  a  thousand  miles  from  home!  I 'have  no  family 
to  take  to  church  to-day.  My  pastor  will  not  expect  my 
presence.  I  think  I  shall  look  over  my  accounts  and  study 
my  memorandum-hook.  Then  I  will  write  a  few  business 
letters,  and  talk  to  that  merchant  who  came  in  on  the  same 
train  with  me."  Stop!  you  cannot  afford  to  do  it.  "But," 
you  say,  "I  am  worth  five  hundred  thousand  dollars."  You 
cannot  afford  to  do  it.  You  say:  "I  am  worth  a  million 
dollars."  You  cannot  afford  to  do  it.  All  you  gain  by 
breaking  the  Sabbath  you  will  lose.  You  will  lose  one  of 
three  things:  your  intellect,  your  morals,  or  your  property, 
and  you  cannot  point  in  the  whole  earth  to  a  single  exception 
to  this  rule.  God  gives  us  six  days  and  keeps  one  for  him- 
self. Now,  if  we  try  to  get  the  seventh,  he  will  upset  the 
work  of  all  the  other  six. 

I  remember  going  up  Mount  Washington,  before  the  rail- 
road had  been  built,  to  the  Tip-Top  House,  and  the  guide 
would  come  around  to  our  horses  and  stop  us  when  we  were 
crossing  a  very  steep  and  dangerous  place,  and  he  would 
tighten  the  girdle  of  the  horse,  and  straighten  the  saddle. 
And  I  have  to  tell  you  that  this  road  of  life  is  so  steep  and 
full  of  peril  we  must,  at  least  one  day  in  seven,  stop  and 
have  the  harness  of  life  re-adjusted,  and  our  souls  re- 
equipped.  The  seven  days  of  the  week  are  like  seven  busi- 
ness partners,  and  you  must  give  to  each  one  his  share,  or 
the  business  will  be  broken  up.  God  is  so  generous  with  us; 
he  has  given  us  six  days  to  his  one.  Now,  here  is  a  father 
who  has  seven  apples,  and  he  gives  six  to  his  greedy  boy, 
proposing  to  keep  one  for  himself.  The  greedy  boy  grabs  for 
the  other  one  and  loses  all  the  six. 


PITFALLS. 


335 


How  few  men  there  are  who  know  how  to  keep  the  Lord's 
day  away  from  home.  A  great  many  who  are  consistent  on 
the  banks  of  the  St.  Lawrence,  or  the  Alabama,  or  the  Mis- 
sissippi, are  not  consistent  when  they  get  so  far  off  as  the 
East  River.  I  repeat — though  it  is  putting  it  on  a  low 
ground — you  cannot  financially  afford  to  break  the  Lord's 
day.  It  is  only  another  way  of  tearing  up  your  government 
securities,  and  putting  down  the  price  of  goods,  and  blowing 
up  your  store.  I  have  friends  who  are  all  the  time  slicing 
off  pieces  of  the  Sabbath.  They  cut  a  little  of  the  Sabbath 
off  that  end,  and  a  little  of  the  Sabbath  off  this  end.  They 
do  not  keep  the  twenty-four  hours.  The  Bible  says: 
"Remember  the  Sabbath  day,  to  keep  it  holy."  I  have  good 
friends  who  are  quite  accustomed  to  leaving  Albany  by  the 
midnight  train  on  Saturday  night,  and  getting  home  before 
church.  Now,  there  may  be  occasions  when  it  is  right,  but 
generally  it  is  wrong.  How  if  the  train  should  run  off  the 
track  into  the  North  River?  I  hope  your  friends  will  not 
send  for  me  to  preach  your  funeral  sermon.  It  would  be  an 
awkward  thing  forme  to  stand  up  by  your  side  and  preach — 
you  a  Christian  man  killed  on  a  rail-train  traveling  on  a 
Sunday  morning.  "Remember  the  Sabbath  day  to  keep  it 
holy."  What  does  that  mean?  It  means  twenty-four  hours. 
A  man  owes  you  a  dollar.  You  don't  want  him  to  pay  you 
ninety  cents ;  you  want  the  dollar.  If  God  demands  of  us 
twenty-four  hours  out  of  the  week,  he  means  twenty-four 
hours  and  not  nineteen.  Oh,  we  want  to  keep  vigilantly  in 
this  country  the  American  Sabbath,  and  not  have  trans- 
planted here  the  German  or  the  French  Sabbath.  If  any  of 
yoa  have  been  in  Paris  you  know  that  on  Sabbath  morning 
the  vast  population  rush  out  toward  the  country  with  baskets 
and  bundles,  and  toward  night  they  come  back  fagged  out, 
cross,  and  intoxicated.  May  God  preserve  to  us  our  glori- 
ous, quiet  American  Sabbaths. 

And  so  men  come  to  the  verge  of  city  life  and  say:  "Now 


336 


PITFALLS. 


we'll  look  off.  Come,  young  man,  don't  be  afraid.  Come 
near,  let's  look  off."  He  looks  and  looks,  until,  after  awhile, 
Satan  comes  and  puts  a  hand  on  each  of  his  shoulders  and 
pushes  him  off.  Society  says  it  is  evil  proclivity  on  the  part 
of  that  young  man.  Oh,  no,  he  is  simply  an  explorer,  and 
sacrificed  his  life  in  discovery.  A  young  man  comes  in  from 
the  country  bragging  that  nothing  can  do  him  any  harm. 
He  knows  about  all  the  tricks  of  city  life,,  "Why,"  he  says, 
"didn't  I  receive  a  circular  in  the  country  telling  me  that 
somehow  they  found  out  that  I  was  a  sharp  business  man, 
and  if  I  would  only  send  a  certain  amount  of  money  by  mail 
or  express,  charges  prepaid,  they  would  send  a  package  with 
which  I  could  make  a  fortune  in  two  months;  but  I  didn't 
believe  it.  My  neighbors  did,  but  I  didn't.  Why,  no  man 
could  take  my  money.  I  carry  it  in  a  pocket  inside  my  vest. 
No  man  could  take  it.  No  man  could  cheat  me  at  the  faro 
table.  Don't  I  know  all  about  the  '  cue-box,'  and  the  'deal- 
er's-box,'  and  the  cards  stuck  together  as  though  they  were 
one,  and  when  to  hand  in  my  cheques?  Oh,  they  can't  cheat 
me.  I  know  what  I  am  about. "  While,  at  the  same  time, 
that  very  moment,  such  men  are  succumbing  to  the  worst 
Satanic  influences,  in  the  simple  fact  that  they  are  going  to 
observe.  Now,  if  a  man  or  woman  shall  go  down  into  a 
haunt  of  iniquity  for  the  purpose  of  reforming  men  and 
women — if,  as  did  John  Howard,  or  Elizabeth  Fry,  or  Van 
Meter,  they  go  down  among  the  abandoned  for  the  sake  of 
saving  souls — or  as  did  Chalmers  and  Guthrie  to  see  sin, 
that  they  might  better  combat  it,  then  they  shall  be  God- 
protected,  and  they  will  come  out  better  than  when  they  went 
in.  But  if  you  go  on  this  work  of  exploration,  merely  for 
the  purpose  of  satisfying  a  morbid  curiosity,  it  will  take 
twenty  per  cent,  off  your  moral  character.  O,  strangers, 
welcome  to  the  great  city.  May  you  find  Christ  here,  and 
not  any  physical  or  moral  damage.  Men  coming  from  inland, 
from  distant  cities,  have  here  found  God.    May  that  be  your 


PITFALLS. 


337 


case.  You  thought  you  were  brought  to  this  place  merely 
for  the  purpose  of  sight- seeing.  Perhaps  God  brought  you 
to  the  roaring  city  for  the  purpose  of  working  out  your 
eternal  salvation.  Go  back  to  your  homes  and  tell  them  how 
you  met  Christ  here — the  loving,  patient,  pardoning,  and 
sympathetic  Christ.  Who  knows  but  the  city  which  has 
been  the  destruction  of  so  many  may  be  your  eternal  re- 
demption? 

A  good  many  years  ago,  Edward  Stanley,  the  English 
commander,  with  his  regiment,  took  a  fort.  The  fort  was 
manned  by  some  three  hundred  Spaniards.  He  came  close 
up  to  the  fort,  leading  his  men,  when  a  Spaniard  thrust  at 
him  with  a  spear,  intending  to  destroy  his  life;  but  Stanley 
caught  hold  of  the  spear,  and  the  Spaniard  in  attempting  to 
jerk  it  away,  lifted  him  into  the  battlements.  No  sooner 
had  Stanley  taken  his  position  on  the  battlements,  than  he 
swung  his  sword  and  his  whole  regiment  leaped  up  after 
him  and  the  fort  was  taken.  So  may  it  be  with  you.  The 
city  pitfalls  which  have  destroyed  so  many  and  dashed  them 
down  for  ever,  shall  be  the  means  of  lifting  you  up  into  the 
tower  of  God's  mercy  and  strength,  your  soul  more  than  con- 
queror through  His  grace. 


CHAPTER  XXYI. 


gold!  gold!  gold! 

People  will  have  a  god  of  some  kind,  and  they  prefer  one 
of  their  own  making.  The  Israelites  broke  off  their  golden 
ear-rings,  the  men  as  well  as  the  women,  for  in  those  times 
there  was  masculine  as  well  as  feminine  decoration.  Where 
did  they  get  these  beautiful  gold  ear-rings,  coming  up  as 
J  hey  did  from  the  desert?  Oh,  they  borrowed  them  of  the 
Egyptians,  when  they  left  Egypt.  These  ear-rings  were  piled 
into  a  pyramid  of  glittering  beauty.  "  Any  more  ear-rings 
to  bring?  "  says  Aaron.  None.  Fire  is  kindled;  the  ear- 
rings are  melted  and  poured  into  a  mould,  not  of  an  eagle 
or  a  war  charger,  but  of  a  silly  calf;  the  gold  cools  down; 
the  mould  is  taken  away,  and  the  idol  is  set  up  on  its  four 
legs.  An  altar  is  built  in  front  of  the  shining  calf.  Then 
the  people  throw  up  their  arms,  and  gyrate,  and  shriek,  and 
dance  vigorously,  and  worship. 

Moses  had  been  six  weeks  on  Mount  Sinai,  and  he  came 
back,  and  heard  the  howling  and  saw  the  dancing  of  these 
fanatics,  and  he  lost  his  patience,  and  he  took  the  two  plates 
of  stone,  on  which  were  written  the  Ten  Commandments, 
and  flung  them  so  hard  against  a  rock  that  they  split  all  to 
pieces.  When  a  man  gets  mad  he  is  apt  to  break  alt  the  Ten 
Commandments!  In  this  instance  Moses  rushes  in,  and  he 
takes  this  calf- god  and  throws  it  into  a  hot  fire,  until  it  is 
melted  all  out  of  shape,  and  then  pulverizes  it — not  by  the 
modern  appliance  of  nitro-muriatic  acid,  but  by  the  ancient 
appliance  of  nitre  or  by  the  old-fashioned  file.  He  stirs  for 
the  people  a  most  nauseating  draught.  He  takes  this  pul- 
verized golden  calf  and  throws  it  in  the  only  brook  which  is 

(338) 


GOLD  !    GOLD  !   GOLD ! 


339 


accessible,  and  the  people  are  compelled  to  drink  of  that 
brook  or  not  drink  at  all. 

But  they  did  not  drink  all  the  glittering  stuff  thrown  on 
the  surface.  Some  of  it  flows  on  down  the  surface  of  the 
brook  to  the  liver,  and  then  flows  on  down  the  river  to  the 
sea,  and  the  sea  takes  it  up  and  bears  it  to  the  mouth  of  all 
the  rivers,  and  when  the  tides  set  back,  the  remains  of  this 
golden  calf  are  carried  up  into  the  Hudson  and  the  East 
Kiver,  and  the  Thames,  and  the  Clyde,  and  the  Tiber,  and 
men  go  out  and  they  skim  the  glittering  surface,  and  they 
bring  it  ashore,  and  they  make  another  golden  god,  and 
California  and  Australia  break  off  their  golden  ear-rings  to 
augment  the  pile,  and  in  the  fires  of  financial  excitement 
and  struggle,  all  these  things  are  melted  together,  and  while 
we  stand  looking  and  wondering  what  will  come  of  it,  lo ! 
we  find  that  the  golden  calf  of  Israelitish  worship  has  become 
the  golden  god  of  European  and  American  worship. 

Pull  aside  the  curtain  and  you  see  our  modern  idolatry. 
It  is  not,  like  other  idols  made  out  of  stocks  or  stone,  but  it 
has  an  ear  so  sensitive  that  it  can  hear  the  whispers  on  "Wall 
Street  and  Third  Street  and  State  Street,  and  the  footfalls  in 
the  Bank  of  England,  and  the  flutter  of  a  Frenchman's 
heart  on  the  Bourse.  It  has  an  eye  so  keen  that  it  can  see 
the  rust  on  the  farm  of  Michigan  wheat,  and  the  insect  in 
the  Maryland  peach-orchard,  and  the  trampled  grain  under 
the  hoof  of  the  Bussian  war-charger.  It  is  so  mighty  that 
it  swings  any  way  it  will  the  world's  shipping.  It  has  its 
foot  on  all  the  merchantmen  and  the  steamers.  It  started 
the  American  civil  war,  and  under  God,  stopped  it;  and  it 
decided  the  Turco-Kussian  contest.  One  broker  in  Septem- 
ber, 1869,  in  New  York,  shouted,  "  One  hundred  and  sixty 
for  a  million !  "  and  the  whole  continent  shivered.  The  idol 
of  the  Israelites  has  its  right  front  foot  in  New  York,  its  left 
front  foot  in  Chicago,  its  right  back  foot  in  Charleston,  its 
left  back  foot  in  New  Orleans,  and  when  it  shakes  itself  it 


340 


GOLD !   GOLD !   GOLD ! 


shakes  the  world.  Oh,  this  gold  is  the  mighty  god  of  the 
world's  worship. 

But  every  god  must  have  its  temple,  and  this  gold  is  no 
exception.  Its  temple  is  vaster  than  St.  Paul's  Cathedral  in 
England,  and  St.  Peter's  in  Italy,  and  the  Alhambra  of  the 
Spaniards,  and  the  Parthenon  of  the  Greeks,  and  the  Taj 
Mahal  of  the  Hindoos,  and  all  the  other  cathedrals  put 
together.  Its  pillars  are  grooved  and  fluted  with  gold,  and 
its  ribbed  arches  are  hovering  gold,  and  its  chandeliers  are 
descending  gold,  and  its  floors  are  tessellated  gold,  and  its 
vaults  are  crowded  heaps  of  gold  and  its  spires  and  domes 
are  soaring  gold,  and  its  organ- pipes  are  resounding  gold, 
aud  its  pedals  are  tramping  gold?  and  its  stops  pulled  out 
are  flashing  gold,  while  standing  at  the  head  of  the  temple, 
as  the  presiding  deity,  are  the  feet  and  shoulders  and  eyes 
and  ears  and  nostrils  of  the  miser,,  Its  altar  is  not  made 
of  stone  as  other  altars,  but  out  of  counting-room  desks  and 
fire-proof  safes,  and  it  is  a  broad,  a  long,  a  high  altar.  The 
victims  sacrificed  on  it  are  the  Swartouts,  and  the  Ketchams, 
and  the  Fi^ks,  and  the  Tweeds,  and  the  Mortons,  and  ten 
thousand  other  people  who  aj^e  slain  before  this  god.  What 
does  it  care  about  the  groans  und  struggles  of  the  victims 
before  it?  With  cold,  metallic  eye  it  looks  on  and  yet  lets 
them  suffer. 

0  heavens  and  earth,  wdiat  an  altar  !  what  a  sacrifice  of 
mind,  body,  and  soul!  The  physical  health  of  a  great  mul- 
titude is  flung  on  to  this  sacrificial  altar.  They  cannot 
sleep,  and  they  take  chloral  and  morphine  and  intoxicants. 
Some  of  them  struggle  in  a  nightmare  of  stocks,  and  at  one 
o'clock  in  the  morning  suddenly  rise  up  shouting,  "A  thou- 
sand shares  of  New  York  Central — one  hundred  and  eight 
and  a  half!  take  it!  " — until  the  whole  family  is  affrighted, 
and  the  speculators  fall  back  on  their  pillow  and  sleep  until 
they  are  awakened  again  by  a  "corner"  in  Pacific  Mail  or  a 
sudden  "  rise  "  of  Bock  Island.    Their  nerves  gone,  their 


342 


GOLD  !   GOLD  !   GOLD  ! 


digestion  gone,  their  brain  gone,  they  die.  The  gowned 
ecclesiastic  comes  in  and  reads  the  funeral  service:  "Blessed 
are  the  dead  who  die  in  the  Lord."  Mistake.  They  did  not 
"die  in  the  Lord;"  their  golden  idol  killed  them! 

The  trouble  is,  when  men  sacrifice  themselves  on  this 
altar  they  not  only  sacrifice  themselves,  but  they  sacrifice 
their  families.  If  a  man  by  an  ill  course  is  determined  to 
go  to  perdition,  I  suppose  you  will  have  to  let  him  go.  But 
he  puts  his  wife  and  children  in  an  equipage  that  is  the 
amazement  of  the  avenues,  and  the  driver  lashes  the  horses 
into  two  whirlwinds,  and  the  spokes  flash  in  the  sun,  and  the 
golden  headgear  of  the  harness  gleams,  until  a  black  calamity 
takes  the  bits  of  the  horses  and  stops  them,  and  shouts  to 
the  luxuriant  occupants  of  the  equipage,  "  Get  out!  "  They 
get  out.  They  get  down.  That  husband  and  father  flung 
his  family  so  hard  they  never  got  up.  There  was  the  mark 
on  them  for  life — the  mark  of  a  sacrifice  to  an  unfeeling  god. 

Solomon  offered  in  one  sacrifice,  on  one  occasion,  twenty- 
two  thousand  oxen  and  one  hundred  and  twenty  thousand 
sheep;  but  that  was  a  tame  sacrifice  compared  with  the  mul- 
titude of  men  who  are  sacrificing  themselves  on  the  altar  of 
gold,  and  sacrificing  their  families  with  them.  The  soldiers 
of  General  Havelock,  in  India,  walked  literally  ankle  deep  in 
the  blood  of  '  i  the  house  of  massacre,"  where  two  hundred 
white  women  and  children  had  been  slain  by  the  Sepoys ; 
but  the  blood  around  about  this  altar  of  gold  flows  up  to  the 
knee,  flows  up  to  the  girdle,  flows  to  the  shoulder,  flows  to 
the  lip.  Great  God  of  heaven  and  earth,  have  mercy  on 
those  who  immolate  themselves  on  this  altar!  Gold  has  none. 

Still  the  degrading  worship  goes  on,  and  the  devotees 
kneel  and  kiss  the  dust,  and  count  their  golden  beads,  and 
cross  themselves  with  the  blood  of  their  own  sacrifice.  The 
music  rolls  on  under  the  arches ;  it  is  made  of  clinking  silver 
and  clinking  gold,  and  the  rattling  specie  of  the  banks  and 
brokers'  shops,  and  the  voices  of  all  the  exchanges.  The 


GOLD !    GOLD  !    GOLD  ! 


soprano  of  the  worship  is  carried  by  the  timid  voices  of  men 
who  have  just  begun  to  speculate,  while  the  deep  bass  rolls 
out  from  those  who  for  ten  years  have  been  steeped  in  the 
seething  cauldron.  Chorus  of  voices  rejoicing  over  what 
they  have  made;  chorus  of  voices  wailing  over  what  they 
have  lost.  This  temple  of  which  I  speak  stands  open  day  and 
night,  and  there  is  the  glittering  god  and  broken  hearts,  and 
there  is  the  smoking  altar  of  sacrifice,  new  victims  every 
moment  on  it,  and  there  are  the  kneeling  devotees,  and  the 
doxology  of  the  worship  rolls  on,  while  death  stands  with 
moldy  and  skeleton  arm,  beating  time  for  the  chorus — More 
gold !  more  gold !  more  gold ! 

Some  people  are  very  much  surprised  at  the  actions  of 
people  in  the  Stock  Exchange,  New  York.  Indeed,  it  is  a 
scene  sometimes  that  paralyzes  description,  and  is  beyond 
the  imagination  of  any  one  who  has  never  looked  in.  What 
snapping  of  finger  and  thumb,  and  wild  gesticulation,  and 
raving  like  hyenas,  and  stamping  like  buffaloes,  and  swaying 
to  and  fro,  and  jostling  and  running  one  upon  another,  and 
deaf  ening  uproar,  until  the  president  of  the  Exchange  strikes 
with  his  mallet  four  or  five  times,  crying,  "Order!  order!"  and 
the  astonished  spectator  goes  out  into  the  fresh  air,  feeling 
that  he  has  escaped  from  pandemonium.  What  does  it  all 
mean?  I  will  tell  you  what  it  means.  The  devotees  of  every 
heathen  temple  cut  themselves  to  pieces,  and  yell,  and  gyrate. 
This  vociferation  and  gyration  of  the  Stock  Exchange  is  all 
appropriate.  This  is  their  worship.  But  this  worship  has 
got  to  be  broken  up,  as  the  behavior  of  Moses  indicated. 
There  are  those  who  say  that  that  golden  calf  was  hollow, 
and  merely  plated  with  gold  ;  otherwise,  Moses  could  not 
have  carried  it.  1  do  not  know  that;  but  somehow,  perhaps, 
by  the  assistance  of  his  friends,  he  takes  up  the  golden  calf, 
which  is  an  infernal  insult  to  God  and  man,  and  throws  it 
into  the  fire,  and  it  is  melted;  and  then  it  comes  out  and  is 
cooled  off,  and,  by  some  chemical  appliance,  or  by  an  old- 


344  aoLD!  gold!  gold! 


♦ 

fashioned  file,  it  is  pulverized,  and  it  is  thrown  into  the 

brook,  and,  as  a  punishment,  the  people  are  compelled  to 
drink  the  nauseating  stuff.    So,  my  readers,  you  may  depend 


i\pon  it  that  God  will  burn  and  He  will  grind  to  pieces  the 
god  of  modern  idolatry,  and  He  will  compel  the  people  in 
their  agony  to  drink  it.  If  not  before,  it  will  be  so  on  the 
last  day,    I  know  not  where  the  fire  will  begin,  but  it  wilJ 


GOLD  !   GOLD  !    GOLD  ! 


345 


be  a  very  hot  blaze.  All  the  government  securities  of  the 
United  States  and  Great  Britain  will  curl  up  in  the  first  blast. 
All  the  money-safes  and  depositing- vaults  will  melt  under 
the  first  touch.  The  sea.  will  burn  like  tinder,  and  the  ship- 
ping will  be  abandoned  forever.  The  melting  gold  in  the 
broker's  window  will  burst  through  the  melted  window-glass 
into  the  street;  but  the  flying  population  will  not  stop  to 
scoop  it  up.  The  cry  of  "  Fire!"  from  the  mountain  Mall  be 
answered  by  the  cry  of  "  Fire!"  in  the  plain.  The  confla- 
gration will  burn  out  from  the  continent  toward  the  sea,  and 
then  burn  in  from  the  sea  toward  the  land. 

New  York  and  London,  with  one  cut  of  the  red  scythe  of 
destruction,  will  go  down.  Twenty-five  thousand  miles  of 
conflagration !  The  earth  will  wrap  itself  round  and  round 
in  shroud  of  flame,  and  lie  down  to  perish.  What  then  will 
become  of  your  god?  Who  then  so  poor  as  to  worship  it? 
Melted,  or  between  the  upper  and  the  nether  millstone  of 
falling  mountains  ground  to  powder.  Dagon  down ;  Moloch 
down;  Juggernaut  down;  gold  down! 

But  every  day  is  a  day  of  judgment,  and  God  is  all  the 
time  grinding  to  pieces  the  golden  god.  Merchants,  what  is 
the  characteristic  of  this  time  in  which  we  live?  "Bad,"  you 
say.  Professional  men,  what  is  the  characteristic  of  the 
times  in  which  we  live?  "Bad,"  you  say.  Though  I  should 
be  in  a  minority  of  one,  I  venture  the  opinion  that  these  are 
the  best  times  we  have  had  in  fifteen  years,  for  the  reason 
that  God  is  teaching  this  nation,  as  never  before,  that  old- 
fashioned  honesty  is  the  only  thing  that  will  stand. 

A  few  years  ago,  in  the  panic,  we  learned,  as  never  before, 
that  forgeries  will  not  pay;  that  the  watering  of  stock  will 
not  pay;  that  the  spending  of  $50,000  on  country  seats  and 
a  palatial  city  residence,  when  there  are  only  $30,000  income, 
will  not  pay ;  that  the  appropriation  of  trust  funds  to  our  own 
private  speculation  will  not  pay.  We  had  a  great  national 
tumor,  in  the  shape  of  fictitious  prosperity.    We  called  it 


34G 


GOLD !   GOLD  !   GOLD  ! 


national  enlargement;  instead  of  calling  it  enlargement,  we 
might  better  have  called  it  a  swelling.  It  was  a  tumor  and 
God  cut  it  out;  and  the  nation  was  sent  back  to  the  prin- 
ciples of  our  fathers  and  grandfathers,  when  twice  three 
made  six  instead  of  sixty,  and  when  the  apples  at  the  bottom 
of  the  barrel  were  just  as  good  as  the  apples  on  the  top  of 
the  barrel,  and  a  silk  handkerchief  was  not  half  cotton,  and 
a  man  who  wore  a  five- dollar  coat  paid  for  was  more  honored 
than  a  man  who  wore  a  fifty-dollar  coat  not  paid  for. 

The  modern  god  is  very  apt  to  be  made  out  of  borrowed 
gold.  These  Israelites  borrowed  the  ear-rings  of  the  Egyp- 
tians, and  then  melted  them  into  a  golden  calf.  That  is  the 
way  the  god  of  gold  is  made  nowadays.  A  great  many 
housekeepers,  not  paying  for  the  articles  they  get,  borrow  of 
the  grocer  and  the  baker  and  the  butcher  and  the  dry-goods 
seller.  Then  the  retailers  borrow  of  the  wholesale  dealer. 
Then  the  wholesale  dealer  borrows  of  the  capitalist ;  and  we 
borrow,  and  borrow,  and  borrow,  until  the  community  is 
divided  into  two  classes — those  who  borrow  and  those  who 
are  borrowed  of ;  and  after  awhile  the  capitalist  wants  his 
money  and  he  rushes  upon  the  wholesale  dealer,  and  the 
wholesale  dealer  wants  his  money  and  he  rushes  upon  the 
retailer,  and  the  retailer  wants  his  money  and  he  rushes  on 
the  consumer,  and  we  all  go  down  together. 

There  is  many  a  man  who  rides  in  a  carriage  and  owes 
the  blacksmith  for  the  tire,  and  the  wheelwright  for  the 
wheel,  and  the  trimmer  for  the  curtain,  and  the  driver  for 
unpaid  wages,  and  the  harness-maker  for  the  bridle,  and  the 
furrier  for  the  robe,  while  from  the  tip  of  the  carriage-tongue 
clear  back  to  the  tip  of  the  camel' s-hair  shawl  fluttering  out 
of  the  back  of  the  vehicle,  everything  is  paid  for  by  notes 
that  have  been  three  times  renewed.  I  tell  you  that  in  this 
country  we  shall  never  get  things  right  until  we  stop  borrow- 
ing and  pay  as  we  go.  It  is  this  temptation  to  borrow,  and 
borrow,  and  borrow  that  keeps  the  people  everlastingly  pray- 


GOLD !   GOLD  !   GOLD  ! 


347 


ing  to  god  of  gold  for  help,  and  just  at  the  minute  they  expect 
the  help  their  god  treads  on  them. 

The  judgments  of  God  will  rush  in  and  break  up  this 
worship ;  and  I  say,  let  the  work  go  on  until  every  man  shall 
learn  to  speak  truth  with  his  neighbor,  and  those  who  make 
engagements  shall  feel  themselves  bound  to  keep  them,  and 
when  a  man  who  will  not  repent  of  his  business  iniquity,  but 
goes  on  wishing  to  satiate  his  cannibal  appetite  by  devouring 
widows'  houses,  shall,  by  the  law  of  the  land,  be  compelled 
to  exchange  the  brown  stone  front  for  the  Penitentiary.  Let 
the  worship  of  gold  perish ! 


CHAPTEE  XXYIL 


ONE  THING  THOU  LACKEST. 

The  young  man  was  a  splendid  nature.  We  fall  in  love 
with  him  at  the  first  glance.  He  was  amiable  and  frank  and 
earnest  and  educated  and  refined  and  respectable  and  moral, 
and  yet  he  was  not  a  Christian.  And  so  Christ  addressed 
him  in  these  words:  "One  thing  thou  lackest."  I  sup- 
pose that  they  were  no  more  appropriate  to  that  young  man 
than  to  a  great  multitude  of  people.  There  are  many  things 
in  which  you  are  not  lacking.  For  instance,  you  are  not 
lacking  in  a  good  home.  The  younger  children  of  the  house 
already  asleep,  the  older  ones,  hearing  your  returning  foot- 
steps, rush  to  the  door  to  meet  you.  And  when  the  winter 
evenings  come,  and  the  children  are  at  the  stand  with  their 
lessons,  the  wife  is  plying  the  needle,  and  you  are  reading 
the  book  or  the  paper,  you  will  feel  that  you  have  a  good 
home.  Neither  are  you  lacking  in  the  refinements  and 
courtesies  of  life.  You  understand  the  polite  phraseology  of 
invitation,  regards  and  apology.  I  hope  at  church  you  have 
on  your  best  apparel.  I  shall  wear  no  better  dress  at  the 
wedding  than  when  I  come  to  the  marriage  of  the  King's 
Son.  If  I  am  well  clothed  on  other  occasions,  I  will  be  in  the 
house  of  God.  However  reckless  I  may  be  about  my  per- 
sonal appearance  at  other  times,  when  I  come  into  a  con- 
secrated assemblage  I  shall  have  on  the  best  dress  I  have. 
We  all  understand  the  proprieties  of  everyday  life  and  the 
proprieties  of  Sabbath  life.  Neither  are  you  lacking  in 
worldly  success.  You  have  not  made  as  much  money  as  you 
would  like  to  make,  but  you  have  an  income.  While  others 
are  false  when  they  say  they  have  no  income  or  are  making 

(348) 


ONE  THING  THOU  LACKEST. 


349 


no  money,  you  have  never  told  that  falsehood.  You  have 
had  a  livelihood  or  you  have  fallen  upon  old  resources,  which 


is  just  the  same  thing,  for  God  is  just  as  good  to  us  when  He 
takes  care  of  us  by  a  surplus  of  the  past  as  by  present  success. 

While  there  are  thousands  of  men  with  hunger  tearing 
at  the  throat  with  the  strength  of  a  tiger's  paw,  not  one  of 
you  is  hungry.    Neither  are  you  lacking  in  pleasant  friend- 


350 


ONE  THING-  THOU  LACKEST. 


ships.  You  have  real  good  friends.  If  the  scarlet  fever 
should  come  to  your  house,  you  know  very  well  who  would 
come  in  and  sit  up  with  the  sick  one;  or,  if  death  should 
come,  you  know  who  would  come  in  and  take  your  hand  tight 
in  theirs  with  that  peculiar  grip  which  means,  "I'll  stand  by 
you,"  and  after  the  life  has  fled  from  the  loved  one,  take  you 
by  the  arm  and  lead  you  into  the  next  room,  and  while  you 
are  gone  to  the  burying  ground  they  would  stay  in  the  house 
and  put  aside  the  garments  and  the  playthings  that  might 
bring  to  your  mind  too  severely  your  great  loss.  Friends? 
You  all  have  friends.  Neither  are  you  lacking  in  your 
admiration  of  the  Christian  religion.  There  is  nothing  that 
makes  you  so  mad  as  to  have  a  man  malign  Christ.  You  get 
red  in  the  face  and  you  say:  "Sir,  I  want  you  to  understand 
that  though  I  am  not  myself  a  Christian,  I  don't  like  such 
things  as  that  said  in  my  store,"  and  the  man  goes  off,  giving 
you  a  parting  salutation,  but  you  hardly  answer  him.  You 
are  provoked  beyond  all  bounds. 

Many  of  you  have  been  supporters  of  religion  and  have 
given  more  to  the  cause  of  Christ  than  some  who  profess 
His  faith.  There  is  nothing  that  would  please  you  more 
than  to  see  your  son  or  daughter  standing  at  the  altars  of 
Christ,  taking  the  vows  of  the  Christian.  It  might  be  a  little 
hard  on  you,  and  might  make  you  nervous  and  agitated  for 
a  little  while ;  but  you  would  be  man  enough  to  say :  "  My 
child,  that  is  right.  Go  on.  I  am  glad  you  haven't  been 
kept  back  by  my  example.  I  hope  some  day  to  join  you.  " 
You  believe  all  the  doctrines  of  religion.  A  man  out  yonder 
says:  "I  am  a  sinner."  You  respond:  "So  am  I."  Some 
one  says:  "I  believe  that  Christ  came  to  save  the  world." 
You  say:  "So  do  I."  Looking  at  your  character,  at  your 
surroundings,  I  find  a  thousand  things  about  which  to  con- 
gratulate you ;  and  yet  I  must  tell  you  in  the  love  and  fear 
of  God,  and  with  reference  to  my  last  account:  "One  thing 
thou  lackest." 


ONE  THING  THOU  LACKEST. 


351 


You  need,  in  the  first  place,  the  element  of  happiness. 
Some  day  you  feel  wretched.  You  do  not  know  what  is  the 
matter  with  you.  You  say:  "I  did  not  sleep  last  night.  I 
think  that  must  be  the  reason  of  my  restlessness;"  or,  "I 
have  eaten  something  that  did  not  agree  with  me,  and  I 
think  that  must  be  the  reason."  And  you  are  unhappy.  0, 
my  friends,  happiness  does  not  depend  upon  physical  con- 
dition. Some  of  the  happiest  people  I  have  ever  known 
have  been  those  whose  have  been  wrapped  in  consumption, 
or  paralyzed  with  neuralgia,  or  burning  with  the  slow  fire  of 
some  fever.  I  never  shall  forget  one  man  who,  in  excrucia- 
tion of  body,  cried  out:  "Mr.  Talmage,  I  forget  all  my  pain 
in  the  love  and  joy  of  Jesus  Christ.  I  can't  think  of  my 
sufferings  when  I  think  of  Christ."  Why,  his  face  was 
illuminated.  I  shall  never  forget  it.  There  are  young  men 
who  would  give  testimony  to  show  that  there  is  no  happiness 
outside  of  Christ,  while  there  is  great  joy  in  His  service. 
There  are  young  men  who  have  not  been  Christians  more 
than  six  months,  who  would  stand  up  and  say  that  in  those 
six  months  they  have  had  more  joy  and  satisfaction  than  in 
all  the  years  of  their  frivolity  and  dissipation.  Go  to  the 
door  of  that  gin-shop,  and  when  the  gang  of  young  men 
come  out,  ask  them  whether  they  are  happy.  They  laugh 
along  the  street,  and  they  cheer  and  they  shout,  but  nobody 
has  any  idea  that  they  are  happy. 

I  could  call  upon  aged  men  to  give  testimony.  There 
are  aged  men  who  tried  the  world,  and  they  tried  religion, 
and  they  are  willing  to  testify  on  our  side.  It  was  not  long 
ago  that  one  man  arose  in  a  praying  circle,  and  said: 
''Brethren,  I  lost  my  son  just  as  he  graduated  from  college, 
and  it  broke  my  heart;  but  I  am  glad  now  he  is  gone.  He 
is  at  rest,  escaped  from  all  sorrow  and  from  all  trouble.  And 
then,  in  1857,  I  lost  all  my  property,  and  you  see  I  am  get- 
ting a  little  old,  and  it  is  rather  hard  upon  me ;  but  I  am 
sure  God  will  not  let  me  suffer.    He  has  not  taken  care  of 


352  ONE  THING  THOU  LACKEST. 

me  for  seventy-five  years  now  to  let  me  drop  out  of  His 
hands."  I  went  into  the  room  of  an  aged  relative  not  long 
ago — his  eye-sight  nearly  gone,  his  hearing  nearly  gone — 
and  what  do  you  suppose  he  was  talking  about?  The  good- 
ness of  God  and  the  joys  of  religion.  He  said:  "I  would 
like  to  go  over  and  join  my  wife  on  the  other  side  of  the 
flood,  and  I  am  waiting  until  the  Lord  calls  me.  I  am 
happy  now.  I  shall  be  happy  there."  What  is  it  that  gives 
that  aged  man  so  much  satisfaction  and  peace?  Physical 
exuberance?  No;  it  has  all  gone.  Sunshine?  He  cannot 
see  it.  The  voices  of  friends?  He  cannot  hear  them.  It 
is  the  grace  of  God,  that  is  brighter  than  sunshine  and  that 
is  sweeter  than  music.  If  a  harpist  takes  a  harp  and  finds 
that  all  the  strings  are  broken  but  one  string,  he  does  not  try 
to  play  upon  it.  Yet  here  I  will  show  you  an  aged  man,  the 
strings  of  whose  joy  are  all  broken  save  one,  and  yet  he 
thrums  it  with  such  satisfaction,  such  melody,  that  the 
angels  of  God  stop  the  swift  stroke  of  their  wings,  and  hover 
about  the  place  until  the  music  ceases.  0,  religion's  "ways 
are  ways  of  pleasantness,  and  all  her  paths  are  peace."  And 
if  you  have  not  the  satisfaction  that  is  to  be  found  in  Jesus 
Christ,  I  must  tell  you,  with  all  the  concentred  emphasis 
of  my  soul,  "One  thing  thou  lackest." 

You  lack  the  elements  of  usefulness.  Where  is  your 
business?  You  say  it  is  No.  45  such  a  street,  or  No.  260 
such  a  street,  or  No.  300  such  a  street.  My  friend  immortal, 
your  business  is  wherever  there  is  a  tear  to  be  wiped  away  or 
a  soul  to  be  saved.  You  may  before  coming  to  Christ  do  a 
great  many  noble  things.  You  take  a  loaf  of  bread  to  that 
starving  man  in  the  alley;  but  he  wants  immortal  bread. 
You  take  a  pound  of  candles  to  that  dark  shanty.  They  want 
the  light  that  springs  from  the  throne  of  God,  and  you  can- 
not take  it  because  you  have  it  not  in  your  own  heart.  You 
know  that  the  flight  of  an  arrow  depends  very  much  upon 
the  strength  of  the  bow,  and  I  have  to  tell  you  that  the  best 


ONE   THING  THOU  LACKEST. 


353 


bow  that  was  ever  made,  was  made  out  of  the  Cross  of  Christ ; 
and  when  Religion  takes  a  soul  and  puts  it  on  that,  and  pulls 
it  back  and  lets  it  fly,  every  time  it  brings  down  a  Saul  or 
Goliath.  There  are  people  of  high  social  position  and  large 
means  and  cultured  minds,  who,  if  they  would  come  into  the 
kingdom  of  God,  would  set  the  city  on  fire  with  religious 
awakening.  0,  hear  you  not  the  myriad  voices  of  those  who 
are  dying  in  their  sins?  They  want  light.  They  want  bread. 
They  want  Christ.  They  want  heaven.  0,  that  the  Lord 
would  make  you  a  flaming  evangel.  As  for  myself,  I  have 
sworn  before  high  heaven  that  I  will  preach  this  Gospel  as 
well  as  I  can,  in  all  its  fullness,  until  every  fiber  of  my  body 
and  every  faculty  of  my  mind  and  every  passion  of  my  soul 
is  exhausted.  I  ask  no  higher  honor  than  that  of  dying  for 
Him  who  died  for  me.  But  we  all  have  a  work  to  do.  I 
cannot  do  your  work,  nor  can  you  do  my  work.  God  points 
us  out  the  place  where  we  are  to  serve,  and  yet  are  there  not 
people  who  are  thirty,  forty,  fifty,  and  sixty  years  of  age, 
and  yet  have  not  begun  the  great  work  for  which  they  were 
created. 

Again,  you  lack  the  element  of  personal  safety.  Where 
are  those  people  who  associated  with  you  twenty  years  ago? 
Walk  down  the  street  where  you  were  in  business  fifteen  years 
ago,  and  see  how  all  the  signs  have  changed.  Where  are  the 
people  gone?  How  many  of  them  are  landed  in  eternity  I 
cannot  say,  but  many,  many.  A  few  days  ago  I  went  to  the 
village  of  my  boyhood.  The  houses  were  all  changed.  I 
passed  one  house  in  which  once  resided  a  man  who  had  lived 
an  earnest,  useful  life,  and  he  is  in  glory  now.  In  the  next 
house  a  miser  lived.  He  devoured  widows'  houses,  and  spent 
his  whole  life  in  trying  to  make  the  world  worse  and  worse. 
And  he  is  gone — the  good  man  and  the  miser  both  gone  to 
the  same  place.  Ah,  did  they  go  to  the  same  place?  No, 
infinite  absurdity  to  suppose  them  both  in  the  same  place. 
If  the  miser  had  a  harp,  what  tune  did  he  play  on  it?  Omy 


354 


ONE  THING  THOU  LACKEST. 


readers,  I  commend  to  you  this  religion  as  the  only  personal 
safety.  When  you  die,  where  are  you  going  to?  When  we 
leave  all  these  scenes,  upon  what  scenes  will  we  enter?  When 
we  wTere  on  shipboard,  and  we  all  felt  that  we  must  go  to  the 
bottom,  was  I  right  in  saying  to  one  next  me:  "I  wonder 
if  we  will  reach  Heaven  if  we  do  go  down  to-night."  Was 
I  wise  or  unwise  in  asking  that  question?  I  tell  you  that 
man  is  a  fool  who  never  thinks  of  the  great  future.  If  you 
pay  money,  you  take  a  receipt.  If  you  buy  land,  you  record 
the  deed.  Why?  Because,  everything  is  so  uncertain,  you 
want  it  down  in  black  and  white,  you  say.  For  a  house  and 
lot  twenty-five  feet  front  by  one  hundred  feet  deep,  all  security; 
but  for  a  soul,  vast  as  eternity,  nothing,  nothing ! 

If  some  one  of  you  should  drop  down  dead,  where  would 
you  go  to?  Which  is  your  destiny?  Suppose  a  man  is  pre- 
pared for  the  future  world,  what  difference  does  it  make  to 
him  whether  he  goes  to  his  home  or  goes  into  glory?  Only 
this  difference:  if  he  dies  he  is  better  off.  Where  he  had 
one  joy  on  earth,  he  will  have  a  million  in  Heaven.  When 
he  has  a  small  sphere  here,  he  will  have  a  grand  sphere  there. 
Perhaps  it  would  cost  you  sixty,  or  one  hundred,  or  one  hun- 
dred and  fifty  dollars  to  have  your  physical  life  insured,  and 
yet  free  of  charge,  I  offer  you  insurance  on  your  immortal 
life,  payable,  not  at  your  decease,  but  now,  and  to  morrow, 
and  every  day,  and  always.  My  hope  in  Christ  is  not  so 
bright  as  many  Christians,  I  know;  but  I  would  not  give  it 
up  for  the  whole  universe,  in  one  cash  payment,  if  it  were 
offered  me.  It  has  been  so  much  comfort  to  me  in  time  of 
trouble,  it  has  been  so  much  strength  to  me  when  the  world 
has  abused  me,  it  has  been  so  much  rest  to  me  when  I  have 
been  perplexed,  and  it  is  around  my  heart  such  an  encase- 
ment of  satisfaction  and  blessedness  that  I  can,  before 
God,  say:  Take  away  my  health,  take  away  my  life,  take 
everything  rather  than  rob  me  of  this  hope,  this  plain,  simple 
hope  which  I  have  in  Jesus  Christ,  my  Lord.    I  must  have 


ONE  THING  THOU  LACKEST. 


355 


this  robe  when  the  last  chill  strikes  through  me.  I  must  have 
this  light  when  all  other  lights  go  out  in  the  blast  that  comes 
up  from  the  cold  Jordan.  I  must  have  this  sword  with 
which  to  fight  my  way  through  all  those  foes  on  my  way 
heavenward.  When  I  was  in  London  I  saw  there  the  won- 
derful armor  of  Henry  VIII.  and  Edward  III.  And  yet  there 
is  nothing  in  chain  mail  or  brass  plate  or  gauntlet  or  halberd 
that  makes  a  man  so  safe  as  the  armor  in  which  the  Lord 
God  clothes  his  dear  children.  0,  there  is  safety  in  religion. 
You  will  ride  down  all  your  foes.  Look  out  for  that  man 
who  has  the  strength  of  the  Lord  God  with  him.  In  olden 
times  the  horsemen  used  to  ride  into  battle  with  lifted  lances, 
and  the  enemy  fled  the  field.  The  Lord  on  the  white  horse 
of  victory,  and  with  lifted  lances  of  divine  strength,  rides 
into  the  battle,  and  down  goes  the  spiritual  foe;  while  the 
victor  shouts  the  triumph  through  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  As 
a  matter  of  personal  safety,  you  must  have  this  religion. 

I  apply  my  subject  to  several  classes  of  people.  First, 
to  the  great  multitude  of  young  people  in  our  cities.  Some 
of  these  young  men  are  in  boarding-houses.  They  have  but 
few  social  advatages.  They  think  that  no  one  cares  for  their 
souls.  Many  of  them  are  on  small  salaries,  and  they  are 
cramped  and  bothered  perpetually,  and  sometimes  their  heart 
fails  them.  Young  man,  at  your  bedroom  door  on  the  third 
floor,  you  will  hear  a  knocking.  It  will  be  the  hand  of  Jesus 
Christ,  the  young  man's  friend,  saying:  "0,  young  man,  let 
me  come  in;  I  will  help  thee,  I  will  comfort  thee,  I  will 
deliver  thee."  Take  the  Bible  out  of  the  trunk,  if  it  has 
been  hidden  away.  If  you  have  not  the  courage  to  lay  it  on 
the  shelf  or  table,  take  that  Bible  that  was  given  to  you  by 
some  loved  one,  take  it  out  of  the  trunk  and  lay  it  down  on 
the  bottom  of  the  chair,  and  kneel  down  beside  it,  and  read 
and  pray,  and  pray  and  read,  until  all  your  disturbance  is 
gone,  and  you  feel  that  peace  which  neither  earth  nor  hell  can 
rob  you  of.  Thy  father's  God,  thy  mother's  God,  waits  for 
thee,  0  young  man,    "Escape  for  thy  life!"    Escape  now! 


356 


ONE  THING  THOU  LACKEST. 


But  I  apply  this  subject  to  the  aged — not  many  of  them. 
People  do  not  live  to  get  old.  That  is  the  general  rule. 
Here  and  there  an  aged  man.  I  tell  you  the  truth.  You 
have  lived  long  enough  in  this  world  to  know  that  it  cannot 
satisfy  an  immortal  nature.  I  must  write  to  you  more  rever- 
entially than  I  do  to  these  other  people  of  my  own  age.  We 
are  told  to  rise  up  and  do  honor  to  the  hoary  head  and  to 
those  who  have  seen  long  years ;  and  so  I  must  write  with 
reverence,  while  at  the  same  time  with  great  plainness.  0 
father  of  the  weary  step,  O  mother,  bent  down  under  the 
ailments  of  life,  has  thy  God  ever  forsaken  thee?  Through 
all  these  years,  who  has  been  your  best  friend?  Seventy 
years  of  mercies !  Seventy  years  of  food  and  clothing !  0, 
how  many  bright  mornings !  How  many  glorious  evening  hours 
you  have  seen !  0,  father,  mother,  God  has  been  very  good 
to  you.  Do  you  feel  it?  Some  of  you  have  children  and 
grandchildren;  the  former  cheered  your  young  life,  the  latter 
twine  your  gray  locks  in  their  tiny  fingers.  Has  all  the  good- 
ness that  God  has  been  making  pass  before  you  since  long 
before  I  was  born — has  all  that  goodness  produced  no  change 
in  your  feelings,  and  must  it  be  said  of  you,  notwithstanding 
all  this,  "One  thing  thou  lackest?" 

Oh,  if  you  could  only  feel  the  hand  of  Christ  smoothing 
the  cares  out  of  wrinkled  faces.  0,  if  you  could  only  feel 
the  arm  of  Christ  steadying  your  tottering  steps.  It  was  an 
importunate  appeal  a  young  man  made  in  a  prayer-meeting 
when  he  rose  up  and  said:  "Do  pray  for  my  old  father.  He 
is  seventy  years  of  age,  and  he  don't  love  Christ."  That 
father  passed  a  few  more  steps  on  in  life  and  then  he  went 
down.  He  never  gave  any  intimation  that  he  had  chosen 
Jesus.  It  is  a  very  hard  thing  for  an  old  man  to  become  a 
Christian.  I  know  it  is.  It  is  so  hard  a  thing  that  it  cannot 
be  done  by  any  human  work;  but  God  Almighty  can  do  it  by 
His  omnipotent  grace ;  He  can  bring  you  at  the  eleventh  hour, 
at  half -past  eleven,  at  one  minute  to  twelve  He  can  bring  you 
to  the  peace  and  the  joys  of  the  glorious  Gospel. 


ONE   THING  THOU  LiiCKEST.  357 


I  must  make  application  of  this  subject,  also,  to  those 


"THOU  WAST  POOR,  AND  I  AM  POOR."-Page  358. 

who  are  prospered.  Have  you  found  that  dollars  and  cents 
are  no  permanent  consolation  to  the  soul?    Have  you  in  this 


358 


ONE  THING  THOU  LACKEST. 


world  ten  thousand  dollars,  twenty  thousand  dollars,  thirty 
thousand  dollars?  Have  you  no  treasures  in  heaven?  Is  an 
embroidered  pillow  all  that  you  want  to  put  your  dying  head 
on?  You  have  heard  people  all  the  time  talk  about  earthly 
values.  Listen  to  a  plain  man  about  the  heavenly.  Do  you 
know  it  will  be  worse  for  you,  0  prosperous  man — if  you 
reject  Christ  and  reject  Him  finally — that  it  will  be  worse  for 
you  than  those  who  had  it  hard  in  this  world,  because  the 
contrast  will  make  the  discomfiture  so  much  more  appalling? 
As  the  hart  bounds  for  the  water  brooks,  as  the  roe  speeds 
down  the  hill-side,  speed  thou  to  Christ.  "Escape  for  thy 
life,  look  not  behind  thee,  neither  stay  thou  in  all  the  plain; 
escape  to  the  mountain  lest  thou  be  consumed!" 

Then  the  poor.  When  you  cannot  pay  your  rent  when  it 
is  due,  have  you  nobody  but  the  landlord  to  talk  to?  When 
the  flour  has  gone  out  of  the  barrel,  and  you  have  not  ten 
cents  with  which  to  go  to  the  bakery,  and  your  children 
tugging  at  your  dress  for  something  to  eat,  have  you  nothing 
but  the  world's  charities  to  appeal  to?  When  winter  comes 
and  there  are  no  coals,  and  the  ash -barrels  have  no  more 
cinders,  who  takes  care  of  you?  Have  you  nobody  but  the 
overseer  of  the  poor?  If  you  do  not  have  in  the  winter 
blankets  enough  to  cover  you  in  the  night,  I  want  to  tell  you 
of  Him  who  had  not  where  to  lay  His  head.  If  you  lay  on 
the  bare  floor,  I  want  to  tell  you  of  Him  who  had  for  a  pillow 
a  hard  cross,  and  whose  foot-bath  was  the  streaming  blood  of 
His  own  heart.  O  you  poor  man!  0  you  poor  woman! 
Jesus  understands  your  case  altogether.  Talk  it  right  out  to 
Him.  Get  down  on  your  floor  and  say:  "Lord  Jesus  Christ, 
Thou  was  poor,  and  I  am  poor.  Help  me.  Thou  art  rich 
now,  and  bring  me  up  to  Thy  riches !"  Do  you  think  God 
would  cast  you  off?  Will  He?  You  might  as  well  think 
that  a  mother  would  take  the  child  that  feeds  on  her  breast 
and  dash  its  life  out,  as  to  think  that  God  would  put  aside 
roughly  those  who  have  fled  to  Him  for  pity  and  compassion. 


ONE  THING  THOU  LACKEST. 


359 


Aye,  the  prophet  says:  "A  woman  may  forget  her  sucking 
child,  but  I  will  not  forget  thee." 

If  you  have  ever  been  on  the  sea,  you  have  been  surprised 
in  the  first  voyage  to  find  there  are  so  few  sails  in  sight. 
Sometimes  you  go  along,  two,  three,  four,  five,  six,  and  seven 
days,  and  do  not  see  a  single  sail;  but  when  a  vessel  does 
come  in  sight,  the  sea  glasses  are  lifted  to  the  eye,  the  vessel 
is  watched,  and  if  it  come  very  near,  then  the  captain  through 
the  trumpet  cries  loudly  across  the  water,  "Whither  bound?" 
So  you  and  I  meet  oil- this  sea  of  life.  We  come  and  we  go. 
Some  of  us  have  never  met  before.  Some  of  us  will  never 
meet  again.  But  I  hail  you  across  the  sea,  and  with  refer- 
ence to  the  last  grea,t  day,  and  with  reference  to  the  two  great 
worlds,  I  cry  across  the  water,  "Whither  bound?  Whither 
bound?  For  the  eternal  heaven  or  for  the  eternal  hell?" 
Will  you  live  with  Christ  in  glory,  or  be  banished  away  from 
Him?  I  know  what  service  that  craft  was  made  for,  but 
hast  thou  thrown  overboard  the  compass?  Is  there  no  helm 
to  guide  it?  Is  the  ship  at  the  mercy  of  the  tempest?  Is 
there  no  gun  of  distress  booming  through  the  storm?  With 
priceless  treasures,  with  treasures  aboard  worth  more  than 
all  the  Indies,  wilt  thou  never  come  up  out  of  the  trough  of 
that  sea?  0  Lord  God,  lay  hold  that  man!  Son  of  God,  if 
Thou  wert  ever  needed  anywhere,  Thou  art  needed  here. 
There  are  so  many  sins  to  be  pardoned.  There  are  so  many 
wounds  to  be  healed.  There  are  so  many  souls  to  be  saved 
or  lost.  Help,  Jesus!  Help,  Holy  Ghost!  Help,  minister- 
ing angels  from  the  throne!  Help,  all  sweet  memories  of 
the  past!  Help,  all  prayers  for  our  future  deliverance!  0, 
that  now,  in  this  the  accepted  time  and  the  day  of  salvation, 
you  would  hear  the  voice  of  mercy  and  live.  Taste  and  see 
that  the  Lord  is  gracious. 

In  the  closing  hour  of  the  day,  when  everything  in  the 
nouse  is  so  favorable,  when  everything  is  so  still,  when  God 
is  so  loving,  and  heaven  is  so  near,  drop  your  sins  and  take 


360 


ONE  THING  THOU  LACKEST. 


Jesus.  Do  not  cheat  yourself  out  of  heaven.  Do  not  do 
that.  God  forbid  that  at  the  last,  when  it  is  too  late  to 
correct  the  mistake,  a  voice  should  rise  from  the  pillow  or 
drop  from  the  throne,  uttering  just  four  words — four  dismal, 
annihilating  words:  "One  thing  thou  laekest." 


CHAPTER  XXXIII. 


WISE  MEN  WHO  PLAY  THE  FOOL. 

There  is  one  scene  in  the  life  of  David  that  you  may  not 
have  pondered.  You  have  seen  him  with  a  harp  playing  the 
devil  out  of  Saul;  with  a  sling,  smashing  the  skull  of  Goliath; 
with  a  sword,  hacking  to  pieces  the  Philistines;  with  a 
scepter,  ruling  a  vast  realm;  with  a  psalm,  gathering  all 
nations  into  doxology;  but  now  we  have  David  playing  the 
fool.  He  has  been  anointed  king,  yet  he  is  in  exile  and  pass- 
ing incognito  among  the  Gathites.  They  begin  to  suspect 
who  he  is,  and  say:  "I  wonder  if  this  is  not  the  warrior 
King  David?  It  looks  like  him.  Is  not  this  the  man  about 
whom  they  used  to  make  poetry,  and  about  whom  they  com- 
posed a  dance,  so  that  the  maidens  of  the  city,  reeling  now 
on  one  foot  and  now  on  the  other,  used  to  sing:  'Saul  has 
slain  his  thousands,  but  David  has  slain  his  tens  of  thou- 
sands.' Yes,  it  is  very  much  like  David.  It  must  be  David. 
It  is  David."  David,  to  escape  their  hands,  pretends  to  be 
demented.  He  said  within  himself:  "If  I  act  crazily,  then 
these  people  wrill  not  injure  me.  No  one  would  be  so  much 
of  a  coward  as  to  assault  a  madman." 

So,  one  day,  while  these  Gathites  are  watching  David  with 
increased  suspicion,  they  see  him  standing  by  the  door  run- 
ning his  hands  meaninglessly  up  and  down  the  panels — 
scrabbling  on  the  door  as  though  he  would  climb  up,  his 
mouth  wide  open,  drooling  like  an  infant.  I  suppose  the 
boys  of  the  streets  threw  missiles  at  him,  but  the  sober  people 
of  the  town  said:  "This  is  not  fair.  Do  you  not  see  that 
he  has  lost  his  reason?  Do  not  touch  this  madman.  Hands 
off!  hands  off!" 

(361) 


362 


WISE  MEN  WHO  PLAY   THE  FOOL. 


So  David  escaped;  but  what  an  exhibition  he  made  of 
himself  before  all  the  ages!  There  was  a  majesty  in  King 
Lear's  madness  after  Began  and  Goneril,  his  daughters,  had 
persuaded  him  to  banish  their  sister  Cordelia,  and  all  the 

friends  of  the  drama  have  been 
thrilled  with  that  spectacle.  The 
craziness  of   Meg   Merrilies  was 
weird  and  imposing,  and  the  most 
telling  passage  in  Walter  Scott's 
"Guy  Mannering."    There  was  a 
fascination  about  the  insanity  of 
Alexander  Cruden,  who  made  the 
best  concordance  of  the  Bible  that 
the  world   ever    saw  —  made  it 
sie  Walter  scott.      between  the   mad-houses.  Some 
time   ago,   while  I   was   visiting  the  Insane  Asylum  on 
Blackwell's  Island,  a  demented  woman  came  up  to  me  and 
said,  in  most  tragic  style : 

God  moves  in  a  mysterious  way, 

His  wonders  to  perform; 
He  plants  his  footsteps  in  the  sea 

And  rides  upon  the  storm. 

But  there  was  nothing  grand,  nothing  weird,  nothing 
majestic,  nothing  sublime  about  this  simulation  on  the  part 
of  David.  Instead  of  trusting  in  the  Lord,  as  he  had  on 
other  occasions,  he  gathers  before  him  a  vast  audience  of  all 
generations  that  were  to  come,  and  standing  on  that  conspicu- 
ous stage  of  history,  in  the  presence  of  all  the  ages,  he 
impersonates  the  slavering  idiot. 

Taking  the  behavior  of  David  as  a  suggestion,  I  wish  to 
tell  you  how  many  of  the  wise  and  the  brave,  and  the  regal, 
sometimes  play  the  fool.  And  in  the  first  place  I  remark 
that  those  men  as  badly  play  the  fool  as  did  David,  who,  in 
any  crisis  of  life,  take  their  case  out  of  the  hand  of  God. 
David,  in  this  case,  acted  as  though  there  were  no  God  to  lift 


WISE   MEN  WHO   PLAY  THE  FOOL. 


363 


him  out  of  the  predicament.  What  a  contrast  between  his 
behavior,  when  this  brave  little  man  stood  up  in  front  of  the 
giant  ten  feet  in  height,  looking  into  his  face,  between  that 
time  and  this  time,  when  he  debased  himself,  and  bedraggled 
his  manhood,  and  affected  insanity  in  order  that  he  might 
escape  from  the  grip  of  the  Gathites.  In  the  one  case  he 
played  the  hero.  In  the  other  case  he  played  the  fool.  So 
does  every  man  who,  in  the  great  crisis  of  life,  takes  his  case 
out  of  the  hand  of  God.  The  life  of  the  most  insignificant 
man  is  too  vast  for  any  human  management.  One  time, 
returning  from  the  West,  I  very  easily  got  on  the  locomotive 
while  passing  over  the  plains,  and  talked  with  the  engineer; 
but  coming  on  toward  the  Allegheny  Mountains,  I  thought  I 
would  like  to  sit  cn  the  locomotive  as  it  came  down  from  the 
mountains  amidst  that  most  wonderful  scenery  on  this  con- 
tinent. I  asked  the  engineer  if  I  might  ride,  but  he  courte- 
ously denied  me,  for  there  the  grade  is  so  steep,  and  so 
winding,  and  so  perilous,  that  he  must  not  have  any  one  on 
the  locomotive  who  may  divert  his  attention  when  eye  and 
hand  and  foot  and  brain  must  be  concentered,  ready  for  the 
most  sudden  emergency.  Life  is  so  steep,  and  so  perilous, 
and  so  exposed  to  sudden  surprises,  that  none  but  the  Lord 
Almighty  can  guide  and  engineer  it,  and  our  disasters  come 
from  the  fact  that  we  want  to  get  up  and  help  the  Lord  to 
manage  the  train. 

Keep  off  the  engine!  Be  willing  to  let  God  pull  you 
where  he  wants  to  pull  you.  You  have  no  right  for  an  instant 
to  surrender  your  sanity  and  manhood  as  David  surrendered 
his.  Put  your  trust  in  God,  and  he  will  take  you  through 
and  over  the  mountains.  I  very  much  suspect  that  all  the 
successful  enterprises  that  were  ever  carried  on,  and  all  the 
successful  lives  that  have  ever  been  lived  have  been  fully  sur- 
rendered to  God.  When  the  girl  Victoria  was  awakened  in 
the  night,  and  told  that  the  throne  of  Great  Britain  was  hers, 
she  said  to  the  prelate  informing  her:    "I  ask  your  prayers," 


364 


WISE  MEN  WHO  PLAY  THE  FOOL. 


and  then  and  there  they  knelt  down  and  prayed.  Do  you 
wonder  that  though  since  that  time  all  the  thrones  of  Europe 
have  fallen  or  been  fearfully  shaken  hers  stands  as  firm  as 
the  day  she  ascended  it;  and  in  every  country  under  the  sun, 


QUEEN  VICTORIA. 


wherever  an  Englishman  hears  that  name  pronounced,  he 
feels  like  waving  his  hat  and  crying :  "  God  save  the  Queen !  '* 
That  man  and  that  woman  who  put  their  trust  in  God  wili 
go  through  in  triumph,  while  those  who  attempt  to  gather 


WISE    MEN    WHO  PLAY  THE  FOOL. 


365 


tinder  their  own  supervision  the  intricate  and  elaborate  affairs 
of  their  lives  are  miserably  playing  the  fool. 

I  stood  on  the  beach,  looking  off  upon  the  sea,  and  there 
was  a  strong  wind  blowing,  and  I  noticed  that  some  of  the 
vessels  were  going  that  way,  and  other  vessels  were  going 
another  way.  I  said  to  myself:  "How  is  it  that  the  same 
wind  sends  one  vessel  in  one  direction  and  another  vessel  in 
another  direction?"  I  found  out,  by  looking,  that  it  was  the 
different  way  they  had  the  sails  set.  And  so  does  trouble 
come  in  this  world.  Some  men  it  drives  into  the  harbor  of 
heaven,  and  other  men  it  drives  on  the  rocks.  It  depends 
upon  the  way  you  have  your  sails  set.  All  the  Atlantic  and 
Pacific  oceans  of  surging  sorrow  can  not  sink  a  soul  that  has 
asked  for  God's  pilotage.  The  difficulty  is,  that  when  we 
have  misfortunes  of  any  kind,  we  put  them  in  God's  hand, 
and  they  stay  there  a  little  while,  and  then  we  go  and  get 
them  again,  and  bring  them  back. 

A  vessel  comes  in  from  a  foreign  port.  As  it  comes  near 
the  harbor  it  sees  a  pilot  floating  about.  It  hails  the  pilot. 
The  pilot  comes  on  board,  and  he  says:  "Now,  captain,  you 
have  had  a  stormy  passage.  Go  down  and  sleep,  and  I  will 
take  the  vessel  into  New  York  harbor."  After  a  while  the 
captain  begins  to  think:  "Am  I  right  in  trusting  this  vessel 
to  that  pilot?  I  guess  I'll  go  up  and  see."  So  he  comes  to 
the  pilot  and  says :  "Don't  you  see  that  rock?  Don't  you  see 
those  headlands?  You  will  wreck  the  ship.  Let  me  lay  hold 
the  helm  for  awhile  for  myself,  and  then  I'll  trust  to  you. " 
The  pilot  becomes  angry  and  says:  "I  will  either  take  care  of 
this  ship  or  not.  If  you  want  to  I  will  get  into  my  yawl  and 
go  ashore  or  back  to  my  boat."  Now,  we  say  to  the  Lord: 
"0,  God,  take  my  life,  take  my  all,  in  thy  keeping!  Be  thou 
my  guide,  be  thou  my  pilot."  We  go  along  for  a  little  while, 
and  suddenly  wake  up  and  say:  "Things  are  going  all 
wrong.  0,  Lord,  we  are  driving  on  these  rocks  and  thou  art 
going  to  let  us  be  shipwrecked."    God  says:  "You  go  and 


36G 


WISE   MEN  WHO   PLAY  THE  FOOL. 


rest.  I  will  take  charge  of  this  vessel  and  take  it  into  the 
harbor.' ' 

It  is  God's  business  to  comfort,  and  it  is  our  business  to 
be  comforted.  Herbert,  the  great  thinker,  philosophized  about 
himself,  philosophized  about  this  world,  philosophized  about 
everything,  then  in  his  dying  moments  asked  that  only  one 
word  might  be  cut  upon  his  tombstone  and  that  word  "Infelic- 
issimus,, — most  unhappy — descriptive  of  the  state  of  the  lives 
and  of  the  deaths  of  those  who  take  their  case  out  of  the 
hands  of  God.  The  only  appropriate  inscription  for  their 
banqueting  hall  and  their  equipage,  and  their  grave  and  the 
wall  of  their  eternal  prison-house — "  Infelicissimus."  In 
drooling,  moral  idiocy  they  are  scrabbling  at  the  door  of  their 
happiness,  which  never  opens ;  miserably  playing  the  fool. 

All  those  persons  play  the  fool,  as  certainly  did  David, 
who  allow  the  technicalities  of  religion  to  stop  their  salvation. 
David  was  wise  about  a  great  many  things,  but  his  follies  for 
a  little  while  eclipsed  his  character.  And  I  know  wise  men, 
and  great  men,  competent  for  all  other  stations,  who  are 
acting  a  silly  and  foolish  part  in  regard  to  the  technicalities  of 
religion.  They  ask  us  some  questions  which  we  cannot 
answer  categorically,  and  so  they  burst  into  a  broad  guffaw, 
as  though  it  is  of  any  more  interest  to  us  than  it  ought  to  be 
to  them.  About  the  atonemeut,  about  God's  decrees,  about 
man's  destiny,  they  ask  a  great  many  questions  which  we 
cannot  answer,  and  so  they  deride  us,  as  though  we  could 
not  ask  them  a  thousand  questions  that  they  cannot  answer, 
about  their  eyes,  about  their  ears,  about  their  ringer  nails, 
about  everything.  A  fool  can  ask  a  question  that  a  wise  man 
cannot  answer.  0,  you  caviling  men!  0,  you  profound 
men!  0,  you  learned  men,  do  please  admit  something.  You 
have  a  soul?  Yes.  Will  it  live  forever?  Yes.  Where? 
You  say  that  Jesus  Christ  is  not  a  divine  Saviour.  Who  is 
he?  Where  will  you  go  after  you  leave  your  law  books,  and 
your  medical  prescriptions,  and  your  club-room,  and  your 


WISE  MEN  WHO  PLAY  THE  FOOL. 


367 


newspaper  office — where  will  you  go  to?  Your  body  will  be 
six  feet  under  ground.  Where  will  your  soul  be?  The  black 
coat  will  be  off,  the  shroud  on.  Those  spectacles  will  be 
removed  from  your  vision,  for  the  sod  will  press  your  eye- 
lids. Have  you  any  idea  that  an  earthly  almanac  describes 
the  years  of  your  lifetime?  Of  what  stuff  shall  I  gather  the 
material  for  the  letters  of  that  word  which  describes  your 
eternal  home?  Shall  it  be  iron  chain  or  amaranthine  gar- 
land? The  air  that  stirs  the  besweated  locks  of  your  dying 
pillow,  will  it  come  off  a  garden  or  a  desert? 

Oh,  quit  the  puzzling  questions  and  try  these  momentous 
questions.  Quit  the  small  questions  and  try  these  great 
questions.  Instead  of  discussing  whether  the  serpent  in 
Eden  was  figurative  or  literal,  whether  the  Mediterranean  fish 
did  or  did  not  swallow  the  recreant  prophet,  whether  this  and 
that  and  the  other  thing  is  right  or  wrong,  come  and  discuss 
one  question :  "  How  shall  I  get  rid  of  my  sins  and  win 
heaven?"  That  is  the  question  for  you.  Yea,  there  have 
been  men  who  have  actually  lost  their  souls  because  they 
thought  there  was  a  discrepancy  between  Moses  and  Prof. 
Silliman — because  they  could  not  understand  how  there  could 
be  light  before  the  sun  rose — the  light  appearing  in  verse 
three  of  Genesis,  and  the  sun  appearing  not  until  verse  six- 
teen— and  because  they  do  not  know  how  the  moon  could 
stand  still  without  upsetting  the  universe,  and  because  they 
had  decided  upon  the  theory  of  natural  selection.  A  German 
philosopher,  in  dying,  had  for  his  chief  sorrow  that  he  had 
not  devoted  his  whole  life  to  the  study  of  the  dative  case. 
Oh,  when  your  immortality  is  in  peril,  why  quibble?  Quit 
these  non-essentials,  my  dear  brother.  In  the  name  of  God, 
I  ask  you  in  regard  to  these  matters  of  the  immortal  soul 
that  you  do  not  play  the  fool. 

What  is  that  man  doing  in  Bowling  Green,  New  York? 
Well,  he  is  going  in  for  a  ticket  for  a  trans- Atlantic  voyage. 
He  is  quarreling  with  the  clerk  about  the  spots — the  red 


368 


WISE  MEN  WHO  PLAY  THE  FOOL. 


spots  on  the  ticket— and  he  is  quarreling  about  the  peculiar 
signature  of  the  president  of  the  steamship  company,  and  he 
is  quarreling  about  the  manner  of  the  clerk  who  hands  him 
the  ticket.  How  long  has  he  been  standing  there?  Three 
weeks.  Meanwhile,  perhaps,  twenty  steamers  have  gone  out 
of  port,  and  he  hears  the  shriek  of  the  steam  tug  that  could 
\take  him  to  the  last  vessel  that  could  bear  him  to  his  engage- 
ment in  London.  Still  he  stands  in  Bowling  Green  discuss- 
ing the  ticket.  What  do  you  say  in  regard  to  that  man?  You 
say  he  is  a  fool.  Well,  in  that  very  way  are  many  men 
acting  in  regard  to  the  matters  of  the  soul.  They  are  cavil- 
ing about  the  atonement,  the  red  spots  on  the  ticket — about 
the  character  of  the  minister  who  hands  them  the  ticket — 
about  whether  it  has  a  divine  or  human  signature,  and, 
meanwhile,  all  their  opportunities  for  heaven  are  sailing  out 
of  the  harbor,  and  I  hear  the  last  tap  of  the  bell  announcing 
their  last  chance  for  heaven.  Go  aboard!  Do  not  waste 
any  more  time  in  higgling,  and  carping,  and  criticising,  and 
wondering,  and,  in  the  presence  of  an  astounded  heaven, 
playing  the  fool. 

I  go  still  further,  and  say  to  you  that  those  men  play 
the  fool  who  undertake  to  pay  out  eternity  for  time. 
How  little  care  do  we  bestow  upon  the  railroad  depot  where 
we  stop  twenty  minutes  to  dine.  We  dash  in  and  dash  out 
again.  We  do  not  examine  the  architecture  of  the  building, 
nor  the  face  of  the  caterer.  We  supply  our  hunger,  we  pay 
our  money,  and  we  put  on  our  hat  and  take  our  place  in  the 
train.  What  is  that  depot  as  compared  with  the  place  for 
which  we  are  bound?  Now,  my  friends,  this  world  is  only  a 
stopping  place  on  the  way  to  a  momentous  destination,  and 
yet  how  many  of  us  sit  down  as  though  we  had  consum- 
mated our  journey,  as  though  we  had  come  to  the  final  depot, 
when  stopping  here  is  as  compared  with  our  stopping  there 
as  is  twenty  minutes  to  twelve  hours — yea,  as  the  one  hun- 
dredth part  of  a  second  compared  with  ten  thousand  million 


WISE  MEN  WHO  PLAY   THE  FOOL. 


369 


years!  Would  Spain  sell  us  Cuba  for  a  bushel  of  wheat? 
Would  England  sell  us  India  for  a  ton  of  coal  ?  Would 
Venice  sell  us  all  her  pictures  for  an  American  school  boy's 
sketch?  Ah!  that  would  be  a  better  bargain  for  England, 
Spain  and  Venice  than  that  man  makes  who  gives  his  eter- 
nity for  time.  Yet  how  many  there  are  who  are  saying  to-day : 
"  Give  me  the  world's  dollars  and  you  may  have  the  eternal 
rewards.  Give  me  the  world's  applause  and  you  may  have 
the  garlands  of  God.  Give  me  twenty  or  forty  or  sixty  years 
of  worldly  success,  and  I  don't  care  what  becomes  of  the 
future.  I  am  going  into  that  world  uninsured.  I  take  the 
responsibility.  Don't  bother  me  about  your  religion.  Here 
I  have  the  two  worlds  before  me — this  one  and  the  next.  I 
have  chosen  this.  Go  away  from  me,  God  and  angels,  and 
all  thoughts  of  the  future  f" 

But  where  is  Croesus,  and  Cleopatra,  and  iEsopas,  who 
had  one  dish  of  food  that  cost  one  million  four  hundred 
thousand  dollars;  and  Lentulus, 
who  had  a  pond  of  fish  worth  one 
hundred  and  seventy-five  thousand 
dollars;  and  Scaurus,  who  bought 
a  country  seat  for  twenty  nine  mill- 
ion dollars;  and  Tiberius,  who  left 
at  death  a  fortune  of  one  hundred 
and  eighteen  million  and  one 
hundred  and  twenty  thousand  dol- 
lars? Where  are  they?  If  a  windy 
day  should  blow  all  the  dust  that 
is  left  of  them  into  your  eyes  it 
would  not  make  you  wink  twice. 
Ah,  my  friends,  then  very  certain- 
ly, your  comforts  of  surrounding 
cannot  keep  back  the  old  archer.  You  cannot  charm  him  with 
music,  or  dazzle  him  with  plate  or  decoy  him  with  pictures  or 
bribe  him  with  your  money 


370 


WISE  MEN    WHO  PLAY    THE  FOOL. 


What  is  the  use  of  your  struggling  for  that  which  you 
cannot  keep?  As  long  as  you  have  clothes  and  food  and 
shelter,  and  education  for  yourselves  and  your  children,  and 
the  means  for  Christian  generosity,  be  satisfied.  You  worry, 
and  tug,  and  sweat,  and  wear  yourself  out  for  that  which 
cannot  satisfy;  whole  flocks  of  crow's  feet  on  your  temples 
and  cheeks  before  they  ought  to  have  come  there.  You  are 
ten  years  older  than  you  ought  to  be,  and  yet  you  cannot 
take  along  with  you  into  the  future  world  even  the  two 
pennies  on  your  eyelids  to  keep  them  shut  after  you  are  dead. 
And  yet  you  hold  on  to  this  world  with  the  avidity  of  the 
miser  who  persisted  in  having  his  bonds  and  mortgages  and 
notes  of  hand  in  the  bosom  of  his  dressing-gown  while  he 
was  dying,  and  in  the  last  moment  held  his  parchment  in  such 
a  tight  grip  that  the  undertaker  after  death  must  almost  break 
the  man's  fingers  in  order  to  get  the  bonds  away. 

Men  are  actually  making  that  choice,  while  there  are 
others  who  have  done  far  differently.  When  they  tried  to 
bribe  with  money  Martin  Luther,  some  one  said:  "There's 
no  use  trying  to  do  that — that  Dutch  beast  cares  nothing  for 
gold."  When  they  tried  by  giving  him  a  cardinal's  hat  to 
bribe  Savonarola,  he  stood  up  in  his  pulpit  and  cried  out: 
"I  will  have  no  red  hat,  save  that  of  martyrdom,  colored  with 
my  own  blood."  These  men  chose  Christ  amid  great  perse- 
cutions; but  how  many  there  are  in  this  day,  when  Chris- 
tianity seems  to  be  popular,  who  are  ashamed  of  Christ  and 
not  willing  to  take  the  hardships — the  seeming  hardships — 
of  his  religion!  And,  alas  for  them!  for  long  after  the  crash 
of  the  world's  demolition  they  shall  find  that  in  all  these 
years  they  were  turning  their  backs  upon  the  palaces  of 
heaven,  scrabbling  on  the  door  of  this  world's  treasure  house, 
the  saliva  of  a  terrific  lunacy  on  their  lips — horribly  and 
overwhelmingly  playing  the  fool. 

Once  more  I  say  to  you  that  those  men  play  the  fool  who, 
while  they  admit  the  righteousness  of  religion,  set  it  down 


WISE  MEN  WHO  PLAY  THE  FOOL. 


371 


for  future  attendance.  Do  you  know  how  many  times  the 
word  "now"  occurs  in  the  Bible?  Over  two  hundred  times. 
One  of  the  shortest  words  in  the  Bible,  and  yet  one  of  the 
grandest  in  meaning  and  ramification.  When  does  the  Bible 
say  is  the  best  time  to  repent?  Now.  When  does  the  Bible 
say  that  God  will  forgive?  Now.  When  does  God  say  is 
the  only  safe  time  to  attend  to  matters  of  the  soul?  Now. 
But  that  word  "now"  melts  away  as  easily  as  a  snowflake  in 
the  evening  rain.  Where  is  the  "now"  of  the  dead  of  last 
year?  the  "now"  of  the  dead  of  last  month?  the  "now"  of 
the  dead  of  last  week?  the  "now"  of  the  dead  of  yesterday? 
Time  picked  it  up  in  its  beak  and  flew  away  with  it.  Swam- 
merdam  and  other  naturalists  tell  us  there  are  insects  which 
within  the  space  of  one  minute  are  born,  fulfill  their  mission, 
celebrate  their  nuptials,  and  die;  but  this  wonderful  "now" 
is  more  short-lived  than  they.  It  is  a  flash,  a  stroke,  a 
glance.  It's  cradle  is  it's  grave.  If  men  catch  it  at  all,  it  is 
with  quick  clutch.  Millions  of  men  have  lost  their  soul 
immortal  because  they  did  not  understand  the  momentum 
and  the  ponderosity  of  that  one  word.  All  the  strategic 
powers  of  hell  are  exerted  in  trying  to  subtract  from  the 
energy  and  emphasis  of  that  word.  They  say  it  is  only  a 
word  of  three  letters,  while  there  is  a  better  word  of  eight 
letters  "to-morrow."  They  say:  "Throw  away  that  small 
word  and  take  this  other  grand  one;"  and  so  men  say: 
"Give  us  'to-morrow'  and  take  away  from  us  'now;'"  and 
between  those  two  words  is  the  Appian  Way  of  death,  and  a 
great  multitude  throng  that  road,  jostling  and  elbowing  each 
other,  hastening  on  swifter  and  swifter  to  die. 

For  how  much  would  you  walk  the  edge  of  the  roof  of 
your  house?  For  how  much  would  you  come  out  on  the  most 
dangerous  peak  of  the  Matterhorn  and  wave  your  cap?  You 
say:  "No  money  could  induce  me  to  do  it."  And  yet  you 
stand  to-day  with  one  foot  on  a  crumbling  moment  and  the 
other  foot  lifted,  not  knowing  where  you  will  put  it  down, 


372 


WISE  MEN  WHO  PLAY  THE  FOOL. 


while  the  distance  between  you  and  the  bottom  of  the  depth 
beneath  you  no  plummet  can  measure,  no  arithmetic  calculate, 
no  wing  of  lightning  cleave.  And  yet,  the  Bible  tells  us  that 
unless  a  man  has  a  new  heart  he  cannot  get  into  heaven ; 
and  some  of  you  are  not  seeking  for  that  new  heart.  In 
Mexico,  sometimes,  the  ground  suddenly  opens,  and  a  man 
standing  near  the  gap  can  see  down  an  appalling  distance. 
But,  oh,  if  to-day,  at  your  feet,  there  should  open  the  chasms 
of  the  lost  world,  how  you  would  fling  yourself  back  and  hold 
on  and  cry: 

'•'God,  save  me — now!  now!  now!" 

I  greet  you,  my  brother,  in  the  very  gate  of  eternity. 
Some  of  us  may  live  a  longer,  and  some  of  us  may  live  a 


it  is  to  die  with  a  strong  faith  in  God,  like  that  which  Stone- 
wall Jackson  had,  when,  in  his  expiring  moments,  he  said: 
"Let  us  cross  over  the  river,  and  lie  down  under  the  shade." 

But  to  leave  this  world  unpreparedly  is  falling — falling 
from  God,  falling  from  hope,  falling  from  peace,  falling 
from  heaven — swiftly  falling,  wildly  falling,  forever  falling. 
So  it  was  with  one  who  had  been  eminent  for  his  intelli- 
gence, but  who  had  omitted  all  preparation  for  the  future 


STONEWALL  JACKSON. 


shorter  time;  but,  at  the 
longest,  life  is  so  short  that 
I  feel  we  all  stand  on  the 
door-sill  of  the  great  future. 
The  next  step — all  the  angels 
of  God  cannot  undo  the  con- 
sequences. Will  your  exit 
from  this  life  be  a  rising  or 
a  falling?  The  righteous  go 
up.  The  Savior  helps  them. 
Ministerin  g  spirits  meet  them. 
The  doors  of  paradise  open 
to  receive  them.  Up!  up! 
up!    0,  what  a  grand  thing 


WISE   MEN  "WHO   PLAY  THE  FOOL. 


373 


world,  and  had  come  down  to  his  last  hour.  He  said  to  his  wife, 
seated  by  the  bedside:  "Oh,  don't  talk  to  me  about  pain;  it 
is  the  mind,  woman,  it  is  the  mind !  Of  all  the  years  of  my  life, 
I  never  lived  one  minute  for  heaven.  It  is  awfully  dark  here, " 
he  whispered ;  "it  is  awfully  dark.  I  seem  to  stand  on  the  slip- 
pery edge  of  a  great  gulf.  I  shall  fall!  I  am  falling!"  And 
with  a  shriek,  as  when  a  man  tumbles  over  a  precipice,  he 
expired.  Wise  for  this  world;  about  all  the  matters  of  his 
immortal  soul  he  was,  his  life  long,  playing  the  fool.  What 
do  you  think  about  the  case  of  a  man  who  has  been  all  his 
life  amid  Bibles  and  churches,  so  that  he  knows  his  duty. 
Christ  has  offered  to  do  all  for  that  man  that  a  divine  Savior 
can  offer  to  do  for  a  dying  soul.  Heaven  has  been  offered 
him,  yes,  been  pushed  upon  him,  and  yet  he  has  not  accepted 
it,  and  he  deliberately  allows  his  chances  for  life  to  go  away 
from  him.  What  do  you  say  of  that  one?  "Hallucinated," 
says  one;  "Monomaniacal,"  says  another;  "Playing  the 
fool,"  says  another.  0,  how  many  there  are  taking  just  that 
position !  There  is  such  a  thing  as  pyromania,  an  insanity 
which  disposes  one  to  destroy  buildings  by  fire;  but  who 
would  have  thought  there  was  a  pyromania  of  the  immortal 
nature,  and  that  any  one  could  be  so  struck  through  with 
that  insanity  as  to  have  a  desire  and  disposition  to  consume 
the  soul. 

Awake,  man!  awake,  woman!  from  the  phantasia,  real 
or  affected.  Take  Christ.  Escape  for  eternity.  Just  see 
what  has  been  done  for  you.  Lift  the  thorny  cap  from  the 
brow  of  Jesus,  and  see  the  price  that  was  paid  for  your 
liberation.  Look  at  the  side,  and  see  where  the  spear  went 
in  and  moved  round  and  round,  amid  broken  arteries,  the 
blood  rushing  forth  in  awful  sacrifice  for  your  sins.  O,  wrap 
those  bare  and  mutilated  feet  of  the  dying  Lord  in  your 
womanly  lap,  for  they  were  torn  in  a  hard  tramp  for  your 
soul!  0,  for  tears  to  weep  over  this  laceration  of  Christ! 
0,  for  a  broken  heart  to  worship  him !    0,  for  an  omnipotent 


374 


WISE   MEN  WHO   PLAY  THE  FOOL. 


impulse  strong  enough  to  throw  this  whole  country  down  at 
the  feet  of  a  crucified  and  risen  Jesus !  "We  must  repent.  "We 
must  believe.  We  must  be  saved.  I  can  not  consent  to 
have  you  lose  your  souls.  Come  with  me,  and  as  in  the 
summer  time  we  go  down  to  the  beach  and  bathe  in  the 
waters,  so  to-day  let  us  join  hands  and  wade  down  into  the 
summery  sea  of  God's  forgiveness.  Eoll  over  us,  tides  of 
everlasting  love,  roll  over  us!  Dear  Lord,  we  knock  at  the 
door  of  mercy,  not  as  the  demented  knock,  not  knowing 
what  they  want,  but  knocking  at  the  door  of  mercy,  because 
we  want  to  come  in,  while  others  run  their  meaningless 
hands  up  and  down  uhe  panels,  and  scrabble  at  the  gate,  in 
the  presence  of  God,  and  men,  and  angels,  and  devils,  play- 
ing the  fool. 


CHAPTEE  XXIX. 


SINS  OF  THE  CITY. 

When  Christian  people  shall  have  had  the  courage  to 
look  upon  the  sins  of  the  city,  and  the  courage  to  apply  the 
gospel  to  those  sins,  then  will  come  the  time  when  so  entirely 
free  from  ruffianism  and  vagabondism  will  all  the  streets  of 
all  the  cities  be,  that  the  children,  without  any  protection  of 
police,  or  any  parental  anxiety,  shall  fly  kite  and  play  ball 
anywhere.  "The  streets  of  the  cities  shall  be  full  of  boys 
and  girls  playing  in  the  streets  thereof."  But  before  that 
time,  oh,  how  much  expurgation.  I  have  laughed  to  see 
some  of  the  American  clergy  run  about  with  their  hands  full 
of  court-plaster  to  cover  up  the  sins  that  I  have  probed.  A 
little  green  court-plaster  for  this,  a  little  white  court-plaster 
for  that,  a  little  blue  court-plaster  for  something  else.  Ah ! 
my  friends,  court-plaster  can  cover  up,  but  it  cannot  cure. 
Not  saying  what  my  theory  is  in  regard  to  the  treatment  of 
physical  disease,  in  morals  I  am  an  allopathist,  and  I  believe 
in  giving  a  good  stout  dose  to  throw  the  ulcers  to  the  sur- 
face, and  then  put  on  the  salve  of  the  old-fashioned  gospel 
which  Christ  mixed  to  cure  Bartimeus's  blind  eyes,  and  the 
young  man  who  had  fits,  and  the  ten  lepers,  and  the  miseries 
of  all  generations. 

There  is  no  man  on  earth  who  has  more  exhilarant  hope 
in  regard  to  the  moral  condition  and  prosperity  of  our  great 
American  cities,  but  that  hope  is  not  based  on  apology  or 
covering  up,  but  upon  exploration,  exposure  and  Almighty 
medicament.  After  as  thorough  an  examination  as  was  pos- 
sible, I  tell  you  what  I  consider  to  be  the  moral  condition  of 
this  country,  as  inferred  from  Washington,  the  city  of  official 

(375) 


376 


SINS   OF  THE  CITY. 


power;  Boston,  the  city  of  culture;  Philadelphia,  the  city  of 
beautiful  order;  Chicago,  the  city  of  miraculous  growth;  New 
York,  the  city  of  commercial  supremacy;  Brooklyn,  the  city 
of  homes.  As  the  cities  go,  so  goes  the  land.  Who  has 
moral  barometer  mighty  enough  to  tell  the  influence  of  Cin- 


cinnati upon  Ohio,  or  of  Baltimore  upon  Maryland,  or  of 
Charleston  upon  South  Carolina,  or  of  New  Orleans  upon 
Louisiana,  or  of  Louisville  upon  Kentucky,  or  of  San  Fran- 
cisco upon  California?  Let  me  feel  the  pulse  of  the  cities, 
and  I  will  tell  you  the  pulse  of  the  land.  God  gives  to  every 
city,  as  to  every  individual,  a  mission.    As  our  physical  and 


SINS  OF  THE  CITY. 


377 


mental  characteristics  show  what  our  personal  sphere  is,  so 
topographical  and  historical  facts  show  the  mission  of  a  city. 
Every  city  comes  to  be  known  for  certain  characteristics; 
Babylon  for  pride,  Sparta  for  military  prowess,  Dresden  for 
pictures,  Kome  for  pontifical  rule,  Venice  for  architecture  in 
ruins,  Glasgow  for  shipbuilding,  Edinburgh  for  learning,  and 
London  for  being  the  mightiest  metropolis  of  the  world. 
Our  American  cities,  of  course,  are  younger,  and  therefore 
their  characteristics  are  not  so  easily  defined;  but  I  think  I 
have  struck  the  right  word  in  designation  of  each.  Wrapped 
up  and  interlocked  with  the  welfare  and  the  very  existence 
of  this  nation  stands  the  city  of  Washington,  on  the  Poto- 
mac— planted  there  by  way  of  compromise.  At  the  dining- 
table  of  Alexander  Hamilton  it  was  decided  that  if  the  South 
would  agree  that  the  National  Government  should  assume 
the  State  debts,  then  the  North  would  agree  to  have  the 
capital  on  the  Potomac  instead  of  on  the  Delaware.  So  the 
capital  went  from  Annapolis  to  Philadelphia,  and  from  Phil- 
adelphia to  Trenton,  and  from  Trenton  to  New  York,  and 
then  passed  from  New  York  to  the  Potomac,  where  it  will 
stay  until  within  a  century  it  shall  be  planted  on  the  banks 
of  the  Mississippi,  or  the  Missouri,  just  as  soon  as  the  nation 
shall  find  out  from  the  law  of  national  growth  that  it  is  bet- 
ter to  have  the  hub  of  a  wheel  at  the  center  rather  than  at 
the  rim  of  the  tire.  "Well,"  you  say,  "what's  all  that  to 
me?"  You  have  just  as  much  to  do  with  the  city  of  Wash- 
ington as  your  heart  has  to  do  with  your  body.  Washington 
is  the  heart  of  the  nation.  If  it  send  out  good  blood,  good 
national  health.  If  it  send  out  bad  blood,  bad  national  sick- 
ness. It  is  to  me  one  of  the  most  fascinating  cities  in  the 
world,  and  I  wish  to  show  you  that  it  has  come  to  a  higher 
condition  of  morality  than  it  has  ever  before  reached.  It  is 
a  city  of  palaces.  He  who  has  seen  the  Treasury  buildings, 
and  the  National  Post-office,  and  the  Capitol,  and  the  Depart- 
ment of  State,  has  seen  the  grandest  triumphs  of  masonry, 


378 


SINS  OF  THE  CITY. 


architecture,  painting  and  sculpture.  I  put  the  eight  panels  of 
the  bronze  door  of  the  Capitol  against  the  door  of  the  Church  of 
Madeleine,  at  Paris. 


|p'i,"H!!j;|  • 


You  talk  about  the  works  of  the  old  masters.  Go  to 
Washington  and  see  the  works  of  the  new  masters:  Leutz's 
"Westward  Ho,"  Brumidi's  frescoes,  Greenough's  Washing- 
ton, Crawford's  statue  of  Freedom.    I  put  the  white  marble 


SINS  OF  THE  CITY. 


379 


mountain  of  magnificence  in  which  our  Congress  assembles 
against  the  Tuilleries  and  the  Parliament  houses  of  London. 
It  is  a  city  laid  out  more  grandly  than  any  city  in  the  land. 
Mr.  Ellicott  by  astronomical  observations  running  the  great 
boulevards  from  north  to  south,  and  from  east  to  west. 
Every  inch  of  its  Pennsylvania  avenue  historical  with  the 
footsteps  of  Webster,  and  Clay,  and  Jackson,  and  Calhoun, 
and  Washington.  Hundreds  of  thousands  of  people  along 
those  streets  vociferating  at  the  inaugurations.  Streets 
along  which  Charles  Sumner  moved  out  toward  Mount 
Auburn,  and  Abraham  Lincoln  toward  Springfield,  the  bells 
of  the  nation  tolling  at  the  obsequies,  and  the  organs  of  the 
continent  throbbing  with  the  Dead  March.  City  of  huzza  and 
requiem.  City  of  patriotism  and  debauchery.  City  of  national 
sacrifice  and  back  pay.  City  of  Senatorial  dignity  and  cor- 
rupt lobby.  City  of  Emancipation  Proclamation  and  Credit 
Mobilier.  City  of  the  best  men  and  the  worst.  City  of 
Washington. 

I  have  watched  that  city  when  Congress  was  in  session 
and  when  Congress  was  away.  The  morals  of  the  city  are 
fifty  per  cent  better  when  Congress  is  away.  At  that  time, 
piety  becomes  more  dominant.  It  is  one  of  the  woes  of  this 
country  that  so  many  national  legislators  leave  their  families 
at  home.  These  distinguished  men  coming  to  Washington 
show  the  need  of  domestic  supervisal.  A  man  entirely 
absent  from  elevated  female  society  is  naturally  a  bear.  Men 
are  better  at  home  than  they  are  away  from  home.  It  is  said 
that  even  ministers  of  the  gospel  during  vacation  sometimes 
go  to  the  Saratoga  horse-races.  It  is  said  that  some  mem- 
bers of  Congress,  faithful  to  their  religious  duties  during 
vacation,  during  term  time  give  the  vacation  to  their  religion. 
There  are  iniquities  in  Washington,  however,  not  associated 
with  office — iniquities  that  stay  all  the  year  round.  Plenty 
of  drinking  establishments,  plenty  of  hells  of  infanry,  ana 
the  police  in  their  attempts  to  keep  order  do  not  get  as  much 


380  SINS  OF  THE  CITY. 

encouragement  as  they  ought  from  the  courts  and  churches. 
On  Christmas  Day  ten  men  in  contest  on  Pennsylvania 
avenue,  one  of  them  shot  dead,  others  bruised  and  mangled, 


PENNSYLVANIA.  AVENUE,  WASHINGTON. 


the  culprits  brought  before  the  District  Attorney  and  let  go. 
The  sins  rampant  in  New  York  and  Brooklyn  rampant  in 
Washington.  Two  thousand  dram-shops  and  grocery  stores 
and  apothecary  shops  where  they  sell  strong  drink — two 
thousand  in  Washington.  Twelve  thousand  nine  hundred 
and  eighty- three  arrests  in  one  year.  Over  four  thousand 
people  in  that  city  who  neither  read  nor  write.  One  hundred 
and  twenty  thousand  dollars  of  stolen  property  captured  by 
the  police  in  a  single  year.  All  this  suggestive  to  every  intel- 
ligent mind.  Washington  wants  more  police.  The  beat  of 
each  policeman  in  Washington  and  Georgetown  is  on  an 
average  ten  miles.  Only  nine  mounted  police  in  that  vast 
city,  which  has  rushed  up  in  population  and  more  than 
doubled  in  nine  years.  But  oh !  what  an  improvement  since 
the  day  when  the  most  flourishing  liquor  establishments  were 
under  the  National  Capitol,  and  Congressmen  and  Senators 
went  there  to  get  inspiration  before  they  made  their  speeches, 
and  went  there  to  get  recuperation  afterward.    Thanks  to 


SINS  OF  THE  CITY. 


381 


Henry  Wilson  and  a  few  men  like  him  for  the  overthrow  of 
that  abomination.  During  the  war  there  were  one  hundred 
gambling-houses  in  the  city  of  Washington ;  there  were  over 
five  hundred  professional  gamblers  there.  One  gambling- 
house  boasted  that  in  one  year  it  had  cleared  over  half  a 
million  of  dollars.  During  one  session  of  Congress  the 
keeper  of  a  gambling-house  went  to  the  Sergeant-at-Arms  at 
the  Capitol  and  presented  an  order  for  the  greater  part  of 
the  salary  of  many  of  the  members,  who  had  lost  so  heavily 
at  the  faro-table  that  they  had  thus  to  mortgage  their  salaries; 
and  if  now,  when  there  are  about  twenty  gambling-houses 
remaining  in  the  city  of  Washington,  you  should  go,  you 
would  find  in  those  places  clerks  of  departments,  book-keep- 
ers, confidential  and  private  secretaries;  and  if  you  should 
go  to  some  of  the  more  expensive  establishments,  near 
Pennsylvania  avenue  and  Thirteenth  and  Fourteenth  streets, 
you  would  find  in  those  gambling-houses  members  of  Con- 
gress, officers  of  the  army,  gentlemen  distinguished  all  the 
land  over.  It  seems  to  me  that  the  reporters  of  Washington 
are  not  as  wide  awake  as  our  reporters,  or  they  would  give  to 
the  different  States  of  the  Union  the  names  of  the  places 
where  some  of  their  great  representatives  in  Congress  are 
accustomed  to  spend  their  evenings.  But  what  a  vast  improve- 
ment in  the  morals  of  that  city !  Dueling  abolished.  No 
more  clubbing  of  Senators  for  opposite  opinion.  Mr.  Covode, 
of  Pennsylvania,  no  more  brandishes  a  weapon  over  the  head 
of  Barksdale,  of  Mississippi.  Grow  and  Heitt  no  more  take 
each  other  by  the  throat.  Griswold  no  more  pounds  Lyon, 
Lyon  snatching  the  tongs  and  striking  back  until  the  two 
members  in  a  scuffle  roll  on  the  floor  of  the  great  American 
Congress.    Oh!  there  has  been  a  vast  improvement. 

Is  it  not  a  matter  of  great  congratulation  that  in  late 
years  there  have  been  more  thoroughly  Christian  men  at  the 
heads  of  Departments  of  State  in  Washington  than  at  any 
time  since  the  foundation  of  the  Government,  and  that  the 


382 


SINS  OF  THE  CITY. 


wife  of  President  Hayes,  by  her  simplicity  of  wardrobe  in  the 
White  House,  put  condemnation  upon  that  extravagance  of 
wardrobe  which  well-nigh  shipwrecked  some  other  adminis- 
trations, and  by  the  banishment  of  the  wine -cup  from  State 
dinners  showed  to  people  in  this  country  in  high  position  that 
people  may  be  jolly  and  yet  be  sober?  Whatever  may  be 
your  opinion  in  regard  to  politics,  I  have  to  tell  you  that  there 
has  never  been  less  rum  and  tobacco,  more  Methodist  hymn- 
books,  or  a  higher  style  of  personal  morality  among  those  in 
authority  than  at  present. 

I  came  back  from  my  observations  of  the  city  of  Wash- 
ington impressed  with  two  or  three  things.  And  first,  while 
I  would  not  have  the  question  of  a  man's  being  a  Christian 
or  not  a  Christian  brought  into  the  political  contest,  I  do 
demand  that  every  man  sent  to  Washington,  or  to  any  other 
place  of  authority,  be  a  man  of  good  morals.  Will  you  send 
a  blasphemer,  as  you  have  sometimes?  Blasphemy  is  an 
indictable  offense  against  the  State.  Will  you  send  to  Wash- 
ington a  man  to  make  laws  who  breaks  laws?  Will  you  send 
&n  atheist?  How  can  he  swear  to  support  the  Constitution 
of  the  United  States  when  there  is  no  solemnity  in  an  oath 
if  there  be  no  God?  Will  you  send  a  man  who  indulges  in 
games  of  chance,  whether  the  amount  be  five  hundred  dollars 
or  five  cents?  No.  Gambling  is  denounced  by  the  statute 
of  every  State.  Will  you  send  a  libertine?  Then  you  insult 
every  family  in  the  United  States.  Before  you  send  a  man 
to  your  City  Hall,  or  your  State  Legislature,  or  to  your 
national  council,  go  through  him  with  a  lighted  candle  and 
find  if  he  swear,  if  he  lie,  if  he  cheat,  if  he  dishonor  the 
family  relation,  if  he  keep  bad  company.  If  he  does  let  him 
stay  at  home.  Scratch  his  name  off  your  ticket  with  the 
blackest  ink,  and  put  on  a  blot  after.  How  dare  you  send 
such  a  man  to  a  Congress  where  J ohn  Quincy  Adams  died, 
or  to  a  Senate  Chamber  where  Theodore  Frelinghuysen  sat, 
his  face  illumined  with  charity  and  heaven?    No  religious 


SINS  OF  THE   CITY.  383 

■ 

test,  but  a  moral  test,  is  demanded  for  every  ballot-box  in 
the  city,  State,  and  national  elections.  Years  ago  some  men 
were  sent  to  Congress — and  I  am  sorry  to  say  there  are  some 
of  them  left — who  were  walking  charnel-houses.  Nothing 
but  a  grave-digger's  spade  could  free  the  world  from  their 
corruption.  Some  of  them  died  of  delirium  tremens,  and  in 
a  brothel.  After  they  had  been  dead  a  little  while,  some 
member,  for  the  purpose  of  giving  a  stone-cutter  a  lucrative 
job,  moved  that  a  large  sum  of  city,  State,  or  national  f  unds 
be  appropriated  for  building  a  monument.  Now,  I  have  no 
objections  to  such  a  monument  to  such  a  man,  if  you  put  on 
it  the  right  kind  of  epitaph  and  uncover  it  in  the  right  way. 
Let  the  uncovering  of  that  monument  be  when  an  August 
thunder-storm  is  approaching.  Let  the  blocks  of  marble  of 
that  monument  be  cut  in  the  shape  of  the  ivory  "chips"  in 
which  the  deceased  patriot  used  to  gamble.  On  the  four 
corners  of  the  pedestal  of  the  monument,  cut  in  marble,  let 
there  be  wine-cup,  flask,  decanter,  demijohn.  Then  gather 
around  for  the  dedication  of  this  monument  the  fragments 
of  families  whom  he  despoiled,  and  let  them  come,  and  on 
each  block  of  marble  let  them  drop  a  bitter  tear;  and  then 
when  the  blackest  fold  of  that  August  thunder-storm  has 
wrapped  the  top  of  the  monument  in  darkness,  and  when 
some  man  high  in  church  or  State,  recreant  to  the  truth, 
stands  there  delivering  the  eulogium,  let  the  black  cloud 
open  and  a  bolt  strike  into  dust  the  monumental  infamy 
with  a  thunder  which  shall  make  all  our  American  capitals 
quake  with  the  reverberation :  "The  name  of  the  wicked  shall 
rot." 

I  came  back  from  Washington  with  the  impression  that 
we  need  a  great  national  religion.  I  do  not  mean  a  religion 
controlled  by  State  officials,  but  I  mean  a  religion  dictated 
by  a  nation  gospelized.  I  mean  a  religion  mighty  enough  to 
control  the  morals  of  a  nation.  Old  politicians  will  not  be 
reformed.    The  undertakers  must  hurry  up  the  funerals  in 


384 


SINS  OF  THE  CITY. 


these  cases  01  political  mortification.  They  will  never  be 
any  better,  those  men.  But  gospelize  the  voters  and  then 
you  will  have  gospelized  officers  of  government.  The  pivot 
on  which  this  nation  turns  is  the  ballot-box.  Set  that  pivot 
on  the  Eock  of  Ages.  There  is  only  one  being  who  can  save 
this  nation,  and  that  is  God.  We  talk  a  great  deal  about 
putting  the  name  of  God  more  thoroughly  in  the  Constitution 
of  the  United  States.  Ah!  my  friends,  it  is  not  God  in  the 
Constitution  that  we  want;  it  is  God  in  the  hearts  of  the 
people. 

That  test  is  going  to  come,  if  not  in  our  time,  then 
in  the  time  of  our  children.  There  has  been  a  good  deal  of 
discussion  as  to  whether  the  battle  of  Lookout  Mountain  was 
really  fought  above  the  clouds.  General  Grant  said  no. 
General  Hooker  said  yes.  We  will  not  go  into  that  discus- 
sion ;  but  I  tell  you  that  every  battle  in  this  country  for 
ninety-eight  years  has  been  fought  above  the  clouds,  God 
and  angels  on  our  side.  First  came  the  war  of  the  American 
Kevolution.  That  was  the  birth -throe  that  ushered  this 
nation  into  life.  Then  came  the  war  of  1812.  That  was 
the  infantile  disease  through  which  every  child  must  go. 

Then  came  the  war  of  1861.  That  was  the  great  typhoid 
which  was  to  revolutionize  the  national  system ;  and  when 
this  nation  resumed  specie  payments,  that  was  the  settlement 
of  the  doctor's  bill!  Now  let  the  nation  march  on  in  its 
grand  career.  Lord  God  of  Bunker  Hill,  out  of  the  trenches 
of  Gettysburg,  so  long  leading  us  with  pillar  of  fire  by  night, 
give  us  the  pillar  of  cloud  by  day,  Lord  God  of  Joshua,  bring 
down  the  walls  of  opposition  to  this  nation,  at  the  blast  of 
the  Gospel  trumpet.  Lord  God  of  Daniel,  move  around 
about  us  amid  the  leonine  despotisms  that  growl  for  our 
destruction.  Lord  God  of  our  fathers,  make  us  worthy 
descendants  of  a  brave  ancestry.  Lord  God  of  our  children, 
bring  forth  from  the  cradle  of  the  rising  generation  a  race  to 
do  better  than  we  when  our  hand  and  voice  are  still.  Then 
let  all  the  rivers  of  this  land  flowing  into  the  gulf,  or  into 


SINS  OF  THE  CITY. 


385 


the  Atlantic  and  Pacific  seas,  be  rivers  of  salvation,  and  all 
the  mountains,  Olivets  of  truth  and  Pisgahs  of  prospect,  and 
the  mists  rising  from  the  lakes  will  be  the  incense  of  holy 
praise,  and  our  cities  will  be  so  thoroughly  evangelized  that 
boys  and  girls  will  be  found  playing  in  the  streets  thereof. 

Worldly  greatness  is  a  very  transitory  and  unsatisfactory 
thing.  Great  men,  I  noticed  in  Washington,  are  great  only 
a  little  while.  The  majority  of  those  men  whom  you  saw 
there  ten  or  fifteen  years  ago  are  either  in  the  grave  or  in 
political  disgrace.  How  rapidly  the  wheel  turns !  Call  the 
roll  of  Jeffersons's  Cabinet.  Dead.  Call  the  roll  of  Madi- 
son's Cabinet.  Dead.  Call  the  roll  of  Monroe's  Cabinet. 
Dead.  Call  the  roll  of  Pierce's  Cabinet.  Dead.  Of  Abra- 
ham Lincoln's  Cabinet,  if  I  remember  right,  all  dead  but 
one,  and  he  as  good  as  dead.  Call  the  roll  of  Grant's  Cab- 
inet. One  or  more  of  them  worse  than  dead.  The  Con- 
gressional burying- ground  in  the  city  of  Washington  has  one 
hundred  and  sixty  cenotaphs  planted  in  honor  of  members 
who  died  while  in  office  ;  but  they  are  only  suggestive  of  a 
vaster  congress  departed.  What  is  political  honor  in  this 
country?  As  far  as  I  can  judge,  it  is  the  privilege  of  being 
away  from  home  amid  temptations  that  have  slain  the 
mightiest,  bored  to  death  by  office-seekers,  assaulted  by 
meanest  acrimony,  and  kicked  into  obscurity,  with  your 
health  gone,  when  your  time  is  out.  One  of  the  Senators  of 
the  United  States  dying  in  Flatbush  Hospital,  idiotic  from 
his  dissipations.  One  member  of  Congress  I  saw,  years  ago, 
seated  drunk  on  the  curbstone  in  Philadelphia,  his  wife 
trying  to  coax  him  home.  A  Congressman  from  NewT  York, 
years  ago,  on  a  cold  day,  picked  out  of  the  Potomac,  into 
which  he  had  dropped  through  his  intoxication,  the  only  time 
when  he  ever  came  so  near  losing  his  life  by  too  much  cold 
water.  Delaware  had  a  Senator  whose  chief  characteristic 
was  he  was  always  drunk.  Illinois  had  a  Senator  celebrated 
in  the  same  direction.  Oh !  my  readers — and  I  say  this 
especially  to  young  men — there  are  so  many  temptations 


386 


SINS   OF   THE  CITY. 


coming  around  all  political  honors,  that  before  you  seek  them 
you  had  better  see  whether  your  morals  are  incorruptible. 
And  I  also  point  out  to  you  the  fact  that  American  politics 
are  most  unfair  to  the  most  faithful  and  self-sacrificing  men. 
I  will  never  forgive  American  politics  for  the  fact  that  it  slew 


HORACE  GREELEY. 


Horace  Greeley.  This  country  never  saw  a  better  patriot. 
His  whole  life  was  given  to  reform,  making  a  magnificent 
record  for  his  country,  all  his  deeds  of  self-sacrifice  and  his 
brilliant  intellectual  achievements  forgotten  in  one  hour. 
There  came  a  time  when  he  felt  that  he,  better  than  any 


SINS  OF  THE  CITY. 


387 


other  man  in  the  Presidential  chair,  could  adjust  the  difficulties 
between  the  sections,  and  while  he  was  talking  about  the 
North  and  the  South  "  clasping  hands  across  the  bloody 
chasm, "  American  politics  pushed  him  into  it.  When  Amer- 
ican politics  did  that,  it  committed  the  greatest  outrage  of 
the  century,  and  proved  itself  guilty  of  patricide,  in  the  fact 
that  it  murdered  a  father,  and  of  regicide  in  the  fact  that  it 
slew  a  king.  Oh !  young  men,  look  not  for  the  honors  of 
this  world;  look  only  for  the  honors  that  come  from  God. 
They  never  intoxicate.  They  never  destroy.  Crowns, 
thrones,  scepters,  dominions — will  you  have  them?  Did  you 
ever  hear  Florence  Eice  Knox  sing  "The  Lost  Chord?"  That 
song  is  founded  on  this  beautiful  idea.  Some  one  sat  at  a 
piano  or  organ  in  reverie,  fingers  wandering  among  the  keys, 
when  she  touched  a  chord  of  infinite  sweetness  that  sent  all 
her  soul  vibrating  with  comfort  and  with  joy.  But  she  kept 
that  last  chord  of  music  only  a  moment.  While  she  played 
she  lost  it,  and  for  years  she  sought,  but  found  it  not.  But 
one  day  she  bethought  herself,  in  a  better  country, — in 
heaven,  among  the  minstrelsy  of  the  saved,  —  she  would  find 
again  that  lost  chord.  If  you  have  heard  Florence  Bice 
Knox  sing  "  The  Lost  Chord,"  piano  on  one  side,  organ  on 
the  other  side  accompanying,  then  you  have  heard  something 
most  memorable.  Our  first  parents  in  Paradise  had  happi- 
ness for  a  little  while,  and  then  missed  it.  Men  have  gone 
searching  it  through  fame  and  applause  and  riches  and 
emolument,  but  found  it  not.  In  all  the  ages  it  has  eluded 
their  grasp.  It  is  the  lost  chord.  Blessed  be  God,  in  Christ, 
our  peace  we  find  again,  that  which  we  could  find  nowhere 
else.  He  is  the  lost  chord  found.  The  symphony  begins 
here  amid  our  sorrows,  which  we  must  have  comforted,  and 
our  sins,  which  we  must  have  slain;  but  it  will  come  to  its 
mightiest  music  in  the  day  when  the  baton  of  the  eternal 
orchestra  shall  begin  to  swing,  and  we  shall,  like  St.  John  in 
apocalyptic  vision,  hoar  the  harpers  harping  with  their  harps. 
That  will  be  the  lost  chord  found. 


CHAPTEE  XXX. 


RESPONSIBILITY  OF  RULERS. 

The  morals  of  a  nation  seldom  rise  higher  than  the  virtue 
of  the  rulers.  Henry  VIII.  makes  impurity  popular  and 
national.  William  Wilberforce  gives  moral  tone  to  a  whole 
empire.  Sin  bestarred  and  epauletted  makes  crime  respect- 
able and  brings  it  to  canonization.  Malarias  arise  from  the 
swamp  and  float  upward,  but  moral  distempers  descend  from 
the  mountain  to  the  plain.  The  slums  only  disgust  men  with 
the  bestiality  of  crime,  but  dissolute  French  court  or  corrupt 
congressional  delegation  puts  a  premium  upon  iniquity. 
Many  of  the  sins  of  the  world  are  only  royal  exiles.  They 
had  a  throne  once,  but  they  have  been  turned  out,  and  they 
come  down  now  to  be  entertained  by  the  humble  and  the 
insignificant. 

There  is  not  a  land  on  earth  which  has  so  many  moral 
men  in  authority  as  this  land.  There  is  not  a  session  of 
legislature,  or  Congress,  or  Cabinet,  but  in  it  are  thoroughly 
Christian  men,  men  whose  hands  would  consume  a  bribe, 
whose  cheek  has  never  been  flushed  with  intoxication,  whose 
tongue  has  never  been  smitten  of  blasphemy  or  stung  of  a 
lie;  men  whose  speeches  in  behalf  of  the  right  and  against 
the  wrong  remind  us  of  the  old  Scotch  Covenanters,  and  the 
defiant  challenge  of  Martin  Luther,  and  the  red  lightning  of 
Micah  and  Habakkuk.  These  times  are  not  half  as  bad  as 
the  times  that  are  gone.  I  judge  so  from  the  fact  that  Aaron 
Burr,  a  man  stuffed  with  iniquity  until  he  could  hold  no  more, 
the  debaucher  of  the  debauched,  was  a  member  of  the  Legis- 
lature, then  Attorney- General,  then  a  Senator  of  the  United 
States,  then  Vice-President,  and  then  at  last  coming  within 

(388) 


RESPONSIBILITY  OF  RULERS. 


389 


one  vote  of  the  highest  position  in  this  nation.  I  judge  it 
from  the  fact  that  more  than  half  a  century  ago  the  Governor 
of  New  York  disbanded  the  Legislature  because  it  was  too 
corrupt  to  sit  in  council. 

There  is  a  tendency  in  our  time  to  extol  the  past  to  the 
disadvantage  of  the  present,  and  I 
suppose  that  sixty  years  from  now 
there  may  be  persons  who  will  rep- 
resent some  of  us  as  angels,  although 
now  things  are  so  unpromising.  But 
the  iniquity  of  the  past  is  no  excuse 
for  the  public  wickedness  of  to-day, 
and  so  I  unroll  the  scroll.  Those 
who  are  in  editorial  chairs  and  in  pul- 
pits may  not  hold  back  the  truth. 
King  David  must  be  made  to  feel  the 
reproof  of  Nathan,  and  Felix  must 
tremble  before  Paul,  and  we  may  not 
walk  with  muffled  feet  lest  we  wake  up  some  big  sinner.  If 
we  keep  back  the  truth,  what  will  we  do  in  the  day  when 
the  Lord  rises  up  in  judgment  and  we  are  tried  not  only  for 
what  we  have  said,  but  for  what  we  have  declined  to  say? 

In  unrolling  the  scroll  of  public  wickedness,  I  first  find 
incompetency  for  office.  If  a  man  struggle  for  an  official 
position  for  which  he  has  no  qualification,  and  win  that  posi- 
tion, he  commits  a  crime  against  God  and  against  society. 
It  is  no  sin  for  me  to  be  ignorant  of  medical  science;  but  if 
ignorant  of  medical  science  I  set  myself  up  among  profes- 
sional men  and  trifle  with  the  lives  of  people,  then  the 
charlatanism  becomes  positive  knavery.  It  is  no  sin  for  me 
to  be  ignorant  of  machinery;  but  if  knowing  nothing  about 
it  I  attempt  to  take  a  steamer  across  to  Southampton  and 
through  darkness  and  storm  I  hold  the  lives  of  hundreds  of 
passengers,  then  all  who  are  slain  by  that  shipwreck  may 
hold  me  accountable.    But  what  shall  I  say  of  those  who 


AARON  BURR. 


390 


RESPONSIBILITY  OF  RULERS. 


attempt  to  doctor  our  institutions  without  qualification  and 
who  attempt  to  engineer  our  political  affairs  across  the  rough 
and  stormy  sea,  having  no  qualification?  We  had  at  one 
time  in  the  Congress  of  the  United  States  men  who  put  one 
tariff  upon  linseed  oil  and  another  tariff  upon  flaxseed  oil, 
not  knowing  they  were  the  same  thing.  We  have  had  men 
in  our  legislatures  who  knew  not  whether  to  vote  aye  or  no 
until  they  had  seen  the  wink  of  the  leader.  Polished  civilians 
acquainted  with  all  our  institutions  run  over  in  a  stampede 
for  office  by  men  who  have  not  the  first  qualification.  And 
so  there  have  been  school  commissioners  sometimes  nomin- 
ated in  grog-shops  and  hurrahed  for  by  the  rabble,  the  men 
elected  not  able  to  read  their  own  commissions.  And  judges 
of  courts  who  have  given  sentence  to  criminals  in  such 
inaccuracy  of  phraseology  that  the  criminal  at  the  bar  has 
been  more  amused  at  the  stupidity  of  the  bench  than  alarmed 
at  the  prospect  of  his  own  punishment.  I  arraign  incom- 
petency for  office  as  one  of  the  great  crimes  of  this  day  in 
public  places. 

I  unroll  still  further  the  scroll  of  public  wickedness,  and 
I  come  to  intemperance.  There  has  been  a  great  improve- 
ment in  this  direction.  The  senators  who  were  more  cele- 
brated for  their  drunkenness  than  for  their  statesmanship 
are  dead  or  compelled  to  stay  at  home.  I  very  well  remember 
that  there  went  from  the  State  of  New  York  at  one  time,  and 
from  the  State  of  Delaware,  and  from  the  State  of  Illinois, 
and  from  other  States  men  who  were  notorious  everywhere 
as  inebriates.  The  day  is  past.  The  grog-shop  under  the 
national  Capitol  to  which  our  rulers  used  to  go  to  get  inspira- 
tion before  they  spoke  upon  the  great  moral  and  financial 
and  commercial  interests  of  the  country,  has  been  disbanded; 
but  I  am  told  even  now  under  the  national  Capitol  there  are 
places  where  our  rulers  can  get  some  very  strong  lemonade. 
But  there  has  been  a  vast  improvement.  At  one  time  I  went 
to  Washington,  to  the  door  of  the  House  of  Eepresentatives, 


RESPONSIBILITY  OF  RULERS. 


391 


and  sent  in  my  card  to  an  old  friend.  I  had  not  seen  him 
for  many  years,  and  the  last  time  I  saw  him  he  was  con- 
spicuous for  his  integrity  and  uprightness ;  but  that  day  when 
he  came  out  to  greet  me  he  was  staggering  drunk.  , 

The  temptation  to  intemperance  in  public  places  is  simply 
terrific.  How  often  there  have  been  men  in  public  places 
who  have  disgraced  the  nation.  Of  the  men  who  were 
prominent  in  political  circles  twenty-five  or  thirty  years  ago, 
how  few  died  respectable  deaths.  Those  who  died  of  delirium 
tremens  or  kindred  diseases  were  in  the  majority.  The 
doctor  fixed  up  the  case  very  well,  and  in  his  report  of  it  said 
it  was  gout,  or  it  was  rheumatism,  or  it  was  obstruction  of 
the  liver,  or  it  was  exhaustion  from  patriotic  services,  but 
God  knew  and  we  all  knew  it  was  whisky!  That  which 
smote  the  villain  in  the  dark  alley,  smote  down  the  great 
orator  and  the  great  legislator.  The  one  you  wrapped  in  a 
rough  cloth,  and  pushed  into  a  rough  coffin,  and  carried 
out  in  a  box  wagon,  and  let  him  down  into  a  pauper's  grave 
without  a  prayer  or  a  benediction.  Around  the  other  gathered 
the  pomp  of  the  land;  and  lordly  men  walked  with  uncovered 
heads  beside  the  hearse  tossing  with  plumes  on  the  way  to  a 
grave  to  be  adorned  with  a  white  marble  shaft,  all  four  sides 
covered  with  eulogium.  The  one  man  was  killed  by  log- 
wood rum  at  two  cents  a  glass,  the  other  by  a  beverage  three 
dollars  a  bottle.  I  write  both  their  epitaphs.  I  write  the 
one  epitaph  with  my  lead-pencil  on  the  shingle  over  the 
pauper's  grave;  I  write  the  other  epitaph  with  chisel,  cutting 
on  the  white  marble  of  the  senator:  "Slain  by  strong 
drink." 

You  know  as  well  as  I  that  again  and  again  dissipation 
has  been  no  hindrance  to  office  in  this  country.  Did  we  not 
at  one  time  have  a  Secretary  of  the  United  States  carried 
home  dead  drunk?  Did  we  not  have  a  Vice-President  sworn 
in  so  intoxicated  the  whole  land  hid  its  head  in  shame? 
Have  we  not  in  other  times  had  men  in  the  Congress  of  the 


392 


RESPONSIBILITY  OF  RULERS. 


nation  by  day  making  pleas  in  behalf  of  the  interests  of  the 
country,  and  by  night  illustrating  what  Solomon  said,  "  He 
goeth  after  her  straightway  as  an  ox  to  the  slaughter  and  as 
a  fool  to  the  correction  of  the  stocks,  until  a  dart  strikes 
through  his  liver."  Judges  and  jurors  and  attorneys  some- 
times trying  important  causes  by  day,  and  by  night  carousing 
together  in  iniquity.  What  was  it  that  defeated  the  armies 
some  times  in  the  late  war?  Drunkenness  in  the  saddle. 
What  mean  those  graves  on  the  heights  of  Fredericksburg? 
As  you  go  to  Eichmond  you  see  them.  Drunkenness  in  the 
saddle.  So  again  and  again  in  the  courts  we  have  had 
demonstration  of  the  fact  that  impurity  walks  under  the 
chandeliers  of  the  mansion  and  drowses  on  damask  uphols  • 
tery.  Iniquity  permitted  to  run  unchallenged  if  it  only  be 
affluent.  Stand  back  and  let  this  libertine  ride  past  in  his 
five-thousand-dollar  equipage,  but  clutch  by  the  neck  that 
poor  sinner  who  transgresses  on  a  small  scale,  and  fetch  him 
up  to  the  police  court,  and  give  him  a  ride  in  the  city  van. 
Down  with  small  villainy !  Hurrah  for  grand  iniquity !  If 
you  have  not  noticed  that  intemperance  is  one  of  the  crimes 
in  public  places  to-day,  you  have  not  been  to  Albany,  and  you 
have  not  been  to  Harrisburg,  and  you  have  not  been  to 
Trenton,  and  you  have  not  been  to  Washington.  The  whole 
land  cries  out  againt  the  iniquity.  But  the  two  political  parties 
are  silent  lest  they  lose  votes,  and  many  of  the  newspapers 
are  silent  lest  they  lose  subscribers,  and  many  of  the  pulpits 
silent  because  there  are  offenders  in  the  pews.  Meanwhile 
God's  indignation  gathers  like  the  flashings  around  a  threat- 
ening cloud  just  before  the  swoop  of  a  tornado.  The  whole 
land  cries  out  to  be  delivered.  The  nation  sweats  great  drops 
of  blood.  It  is  crucified,  not  between  two  thieves,  but 
between  a  thousand,  while  nations  pass  by  wagging  their 
heads,  and  saying:   "Aha!  aha!" 

I  unroll  the  scroll  of  public  iniquity,  and  I  come  to  brib- 
ery— bribery  by  money,  bribery  by  proffered  office.    Do  not 


RESPONSIBILITY  OF  RULERS. 


393 


charge  it  upon  American  institutions.    It  is  a  sin  we  got 


Francis  Bacon,  the  thinker 
of  whom  it  was  said  when 


FRANCIS  BACON. 


from  the  other  side  the  water, 
of  his  century,  Francis  Bacon, 
men  heard  him  speak  they 
were  only  fearful  that  he 
would  stop,  Francis  Bacon, 
with  all  his  castles  and  all 
his  emoluments,  destroyed 
by  bribery,  fined  two  hundred 
thousand  dollars,  or.  what  is 
equal  to  our  two  hundred 
thousand  dollars,  and  hurled 
into  London  Tower,  and  his 
only  excuse  was  he  said  all 
his  predecessors  had  done 
the  same  thing.  Lord 
Chancellor  Macclesfield  destroyed  by  bribery.  Lord  Chan- 
cellor Waterbury  destroyed  by  bribery.  Benedict  Arnold 
selling  the  fort  in  the  Highlands  for  thirty-one  thousand  five 
hundred  and  seventy-five  dollars.  For  this  sin  Georgy 
betrayed  Hungary,  and  Ahithophel  forsook  David,  and 
Judas  kissed  Christ.  And  it  is  abroad  in  our  land.  You 
know  in  many  of  the  legislatures  of  this  country  it  has 
been  impossible  to  get  a  bill  through  unless  it  had  financial 
consideration.  The  question  has  been  asked  softly,  some- 
times very  softly  asked,  in  regard  to  a  bill,  "Is  there 
any  money  in  it?"  and  the  lobbies  of  the  legislatures  and 
the  National  Capitol  have  been  crowded  with  railroad  men 
and  manufacturers  and  contractors,  and  the  iniquity  has 
become  so  great  that  sometimes  reformers  and  philanthro- 
pists have  been  laughed  out  of  Harrisburg  and  Albany  and 
Trenton  and  Washington  because  they  came  empty-handed. 
"You  vote  for  this  bill  and  Til  vote  for  that  bill."  "You 
favor  that  monopoly  of  a  moneyed  institution  and  I'll  favor 
the  other  monopoly  of  another  institution."    And  here  is  a 


394:  RESPONSIBILITY  OF  RULERS. 

bill  that  it  is  going  to  be  very  hard  to  get  through  the  Legis- 
lature, and  you  will  call  some  friends  together  at  a  midnight 
banquet,  and  while  they  are  intoxicated  you  will  have  them 
promise  to  vote  your  way.  Here  are  five  thousand  dollars 
for  prudent  distribution  in  this  direction  and  here  are  one 
thousand  dollars  for  prudent  distribution  in  that  direction 
Now,  we  are  within  four  votes  of  having  enough.  You  give 
five  thousand  dollars  to  that  intelligent  member  from  West- 
chester and  you  give  two  thousand  dollars  to  that  stupid 
member  from  Ulster,  and  now  we  are  within  two  votes  of 
having  it.  Give  five  hundred  dollars  to  this  member  who 
will  be  sick  and  stay  at  home  and  three  hundred  dollars  to 
this  member  who  will  go  to  see  his  great-aunt  languishing  in 
her  last  sickness.  Now  the  day  has  come  for  the  passing  of 
the  bill.  The  Speaker's  gavel  strikes.  "Senators,  are  you 
ready  for  the  question?  All  in  favor  of  voting  away  these 
thousands  or  millions  of  dollars  will  say  'aye.'"  "Aye,  aye, 
aye,  aye!"    "The  ayes  have  it." 

Some  of  the  finest  houses  of  our  cities  were  built  out  of 
money  paid  for  votes  in  the  legislatures.  Five  hundred 
small  wheels  in  political  machinery  with  cogs  reaching  into 
one  great  centre  wheel,  and  that  wheel  has  a  tire  of  railroad 
iron  and  a  crank  to  it  on  which  Satan  puts  his  hand  and 
turns  the  center  wheel,  and  that  turns  the  five  hundred  other 
wheels  of  political  machinery.  While  in  this  country  it  is 
becoming  harder  and  harder  for  the  great  mass  of  the  people 
to  get  a  living,  there  are  too  many  men  in  this  country  who 
have  their  two  millions  and  their  ten  millions  and  their 
twenty  millions,  and  carry  the  legislators  in  one  pocket  and 
the  Congress  of  the  United  States  in  the  other.  And  there 
is  trouble  ahead.  Eevolution.  I  pray  God  it  may  be 
peaceful  revolution  and  at  the  ballot-box.  The  time  must 
come  in  this  country  when  men  shall  be  sent  into  public 
position  who  cannot  be  purchased.  I  do  not  want  the  union 
of  Church  and  State,  but  I  declare  that  if  the  Church  of 


RESPONSIBILITY  OF  RULERS. 


395 


God  does  not  show  itself  in  favor  of  the  great  mass  of  the 
people  as  well  as  in  favor  of  the  Lord,  the  time  will  come 
when  the  Church  as  an  institution  will  be  extinct,  and  Christ 
will  go  down  again  to  the  beach,  and  choose  twelve  plain, 
honest  fishermen  to  come  up  into  the  apostleship  of  a  new 
dispensation  of  righteousness  manward  and  Godward. 

Bribery  is  cursing  this  land.  The  evil  started  with  its 
greatest  power  during  the  last  war,  when  men  said,  "Now 
you  give  me  this  contract  above  every  other  applicant,  and 
you  shall  have  ten  per  cent  of  all  I  make  by  it.  You  pass 
these  broken-down  cavalry  horses  as  good,  and  you  shall  have 
five  thousand  dollars  as  a  bonus."  "Bonus"  is  the  word.  And 
so  they  sent  down  to  your  fathers  and  brothers  and  sons,  rice 
that  was  worm-eaten,  and  bread  that  was  moldy,  and  meat 
that  was  rank,  and  blankets  that  were  shoddy,  and  cavalry 
horses  that  stumbled  in  the  charge,  and  tents  that  sifted  the 
rain  into  exhausted  faces.  But  it  was  all  right.  They  got 
the  bonus.  I  never  so  much  believed  in  a  Bepublican  form 
of  government  as  I  do  to-day,  for  the  simple  reason  that 
any  other  style  of  government  would  have  been  consumed 
long  ago.  There  have  been  swindles  enacted  in  this  nation 
within  the  last  thirty  years  enough  to  swamp  three  mon- 
archies. The  Democratic  party  filled  its  cup  of  iniquity 
before  it  went  out  of  power  before  the  war.  Then  the  Bepub- 
lican party  came  along,  and  its  opportunities  through  the 
contracts  were  greater,  and  so  it  filled  its  cup  of  iniquity  a 
little  sooner,  and  there  they  lie  to-day,  the  Democratic  party 
and  the  Bepublican  party,  side  by  side,  great  loathsome  car- 
cases of  iniquity,  each  one  worse  than  the  other.  Tens  of 
thousands  of  good  citizens  in  all  the  parties ;  but  you  know 
as  well  as  I  do  that  party  organization  in  this  country  is 
utterly,  utterly  corrupt. 

Now,  if  there  were  nothing  for  you  and  for  me  to  do  in 
this  matter  I  would  not  present  this  subject.  There  are 
several  things  for  us  to  do.    First,  stand  aloof  from  political 


396 


RESPONSIBILITY  OF  RULERS. 


office  unless  you  have  your  moral  principles  thoroughly  set- 
tled. Do  not  go  into  this  blaze  of  temptation  unless  you 
are  fireproof.  Hundreds  of  respectable  men  have  been  de- 
stroyed for  this  life  and  the  life  to  come  because  they  had 
not  moral  principle  to  stand  office.  You  go  into  some  office 
of  authority  without  moral  principle,  and  before  you  get 
through  you  will  lie,  and  you  will  swear,  and  you  will 
gamble,  and  you  will  steal.  Another  thing  for  you  to  do  is 
to  be  faithful  at  the  ballot-box.  Do  not  stand  on  your 
dignity  and  say,  "111  not  go  where  the  rabble  are."  If  need 
be,  put  on  your  old  clothes  and  just  push  yourself  through 
amid  the  unwashed,  and  vote.  Vote  for  men  who  love  God 
and  hate  rum.  You  cannot  say,  you  ought  not  to  say,  "I 
have  nothing  to  do  with  this  matter. "  Then  you  will  insult 
the  graves  of  your  fathers  who  died  for  the  establishment  of 
the  government  and  you  will  insult  the  graves  of  your  chil- 
dren who  may  live  to  feel  the  results  of  your  negligence. 
Evangelize  the  people.  Get  the  hearts  of  the  people  right, 
and  they  will  vote  right.  That  woman  who  this  afternoon 
in  Sunday-school  teaches  six  boys  how  to  be  Christians  will 
do  more  for  the  future  of  this  country  than  the  man  who 
writes  the  finest  essay  about  the  Federal  Constitution.  I 
know  there  are  a  great  many  good  people  who  think  that 
God  ought  to  be  recognized  in  the  Constitution,  and  they  are 
making  a  move  in  that  direction.  I  am  most  anxious  that 
God  shall  be  in  the  hearts  of  the  people.  Get  their  hearts 
right,  and  then  they  will  vote  right. 

If  there  be  fifty  million  people  in  this  country,  then  at 
least  a  fifty  millionth  part  of  the  responsibility  rests  on  you. 
What  we  want  is  a  great  revival  of  religion  reaching  from 
sea  to  sea,  and  it  is  going  to  come.  A  newspaper  gentleman 
asked  me  a  few  weeks  ago  what  I  thought  of  revivals.  I 
said  I  thought  so  much  of  them  I  never  put  my  faith  in  any- 
thing else.  We  want  thousands  in  a  day,  hundreds  of  thou- 
sands in  a  day,  nations  in  a  day.    Get  all  the  people  evange- 


HESPONSIBILITY  OF  RULERS. 


397 


Iized,  brought  under  Christianized  influences.  These  great 
evils  that  we  now  so  much  deplore  will  be  banished  from  the 
land.  And  remember  that  we  are  at  last  to  be  judged,  not  as 
nations,  but  as  individuals — in  that  day  when  empires  and 
republics  shall  alike  go  down  and  we  shall  have  to  give 
account  for  ourselves,  for  what  we  have  done  and  for  what 
we  have  neglected  to  do — in  that  day  when  the  earth  itself 
will  be  a  heap  of  ashes  scattered  in  the  blast  of  the  nostrils 
of  the  Lord  God  Almighty.  God  save  the  United  States  of 
America ! 


CHAP  TEE  XXXI 


MUNICIPAL  SINS. 

The  citizens  of  Old  Jerusalem  are  in  the  tip-top  of  excite- 
ment. A  countryman  has  been  doing  some  wonderful  works 
and  asserting  very  high  authority.  The  police  court  has 
issued  papers  for  His  arrest,  for  this  thing  must  be  stopped 
as  the  very  Government  is  imperilled.  News  .comes  that  last 
night  this  stranger  arrived  at  a  suburban  village,  and  that 
He  is  stopping  at  the  house  of  a  man  whom  he  had  resusci- 
tated after  four  days'  sepulture.  The  people  rush  out  into 
the  streets,  some  with  the  idea  of  helping  in  the  arrest  of 
thi§  stranger  when  he  arrives,  and  others  expecting  that  on 
the  morrow  He  will  come  into  the  town,  and  by  some  super- 
natural force  oust  the  municipal  and  royal  authorities  and 
take  everything  in  His  own  hands.  They  pour  out  of  the 
city  gates  until  the  procession  reaches  to  the  village.  They 
come  all  around  about  the  house  where  the  stranger  is 
stopping,  and  peer  into  the  doors  and  windows  that  they  may 
get  one  glimpse  of  Him  or  hear  the  hum  of  His  voice.  The 
police  dare  not  make  the  arrest  because  He  has,  somehow, 
won  the  affections  of  all  the  people.  It  is  a  lively  night  in 
Bethany.  The  heretofore  quiet  village  is  filled  with  uproar 
and  outcry  and  loud  discussion  about  the  strange  acting 
countryman.  I  do  not  think  there  was  any  sleep  in  that 
house  that  night  where  the  stranger  was  stopping.  Although 
He  came  in  weary  He  finds  no  rest,  though  for  once  in  His 
lifetime  He  had  a  pillow.  But  the  morning  dawns,  the  olive 
gardens  wave  in  the  light,  and  all  along  the  road,  reaching 
over  the  top  of  Olivet  toward  Jerusalem,  there  is  a  vast 

(399) 


400 


MUNICIPAL  SINS. 


swaying  crowd  of  wondering  people.  The  excitement  around 
the  door  of  the  cottage  is  wild  as  the  stranger  steps  out 
beside  an  unbroken  colt  that  had  never  been  mounted,  and 
after  His  friends  had  strewn  their  garments  on  the  beast  for 
a  saddle,  the  Saviour  mounts  it,  and  the  populace,  excited  and 
shouting  and  feverish,  push  on  back  toward  Jerusalem.  Let 
none  jeer  now  or  scoff  at  this  rider  or  the  populace  will 
trample  him  under  foot  in  an  instant.  There  is  one  long 
shout  of  two  miles,  and  as  far  as  eye  can  reach  you  see  wav- 
ings  of  demonstration  and  approval. 

There  is  something  in  the  rider's  visage,  something  in 
His  majestic  brow,  something  in  His  princely  behavior,  that 
stirs  up  the  enthusiasm  of  the  people.  They  run  up  against 
the  beast  and  try  to  pull  off  into  their  arms  and  carry  on 
their  shoulders  the  illustrious  stranger.  The  populace  are  so 
excited  that  they  hardly  know  what  to  do  with  themselves, 
and  some  rush  up  to  the  roadside  trees  and  wrench  off 
branches  and  throw  them  in  His  way;  and  others  doff  their 
garments,  what  though  they  be  new  and  costly,  and  spread 
them  for  a  carpet  for  the  conqueror  to  ride  over.  "Hosan- 
na!"  cry  the  people  at  the  foot  of  the  hill.  "Hosanna!"  cry 
the  people  all  up  and  down  the  mountain.  The  procession 
has  now  come  to  the  brow  of  Olivet.  Magnificent  prospect 
reaching  out  in  every  direction — vineyards,  olive  groves, 
jutting  rock,  silvery  Siloam,  and,  above  all,  rising  on  its  throne 
of  hills,  the  most  highly  honored  city  of  all  the  earth,  Jerusa- 
lem. Christ  there,  in  the  midst  of  the  procession,  looks  off 
and  sees  here  the  fortressed  gates,  and  yonder  the  circling 
wall,  and  here  the  towers  blazing  in  the  sun,  Phasselus  and 
Mariamne.  Yonder  is  Hippicus,  the  king's  castle.  Looking 
along  in  the  range  of  the  larger  branch  of  that  olive  tree 
you  see  the  mansions  of  the  merchant  princes.  Through 
this  cleft  in  the  limestone  rock  you  see  the  palace  of  the 
richest  trafficker  in  all  the  earth.  He  has  made  his  money 
by  selling  Tyrian  purple.    Behold  now  the  Temple!  Clouds 


MUNICIPAL  SINS. 


401 


of  smoke  lifting  from  the  shimmering  roof,  while  the  build- 
ing rises  up  beautiful,  grand,  majestic,  the  architectural  skill 
and  glory  of  the  earth  lifting  themselves  there  in  one  triumph- 
ant doxology,  the  frozen  prayer  of  all  nations. 

The  crowd  looked  around  to  see  exhilaration  and  transport 
in  the  face  of  Christ.  Oh,  no!  Out  from  amid  the  gates  and 
the  domes  and  the  palaces  there  arose  a  vision  of  that  city's 
sin  and  of  that  city's  doom  which  obliterated  the  landscape 
from  horizon  to  horizon,  and  He  burst  into  tears.  "He 
beheld  the  city,  and  wept  over  it." 

Standing  in  some  high  towers  of  our  cities,  we  might 
look  off  upon  a  wondrous  scene  of  enterprise  and  wealth  and 
beauty;  long  streets  faced  by  comfortable  homes,  here  and 
there  rising  into  affluence,  while  we  might  find  thousands  of 
people  who  would  be  glad  to  cast  palm  branches  in  the  way 
of  Him  who  comes  from  Bethany  to  Jerusalem,  greeting 
Him  wTith  the  vociferation,  "Hosanna!  to  the  Son  of  David." 
And  yet  how  much  there  is  to  mourn  over  in  our  cities. 
Passing  along  the  streets  Sunday  are  a  great  multitude. 
Whither  do  they  go?  To  church.  Thank  God  for  that. 
Listen,  and  you  hear  multitudinous  voices  of  praise.  Thank 
God  for  that.  When  the  evening  falls  you  will  find  Christian 
men  and  women  knocking  at  hovels  of  poverty  and  finding 
no  light;  taking  the  matches  from  their  pocket,  and  by  a 
momentary  glance  revealing  wan  faces  and  wasted  hands  and 
ragged  bed;  sending  in,  before  morning,  candles  and  vials  of 
medicine,  and  Bibles  and  loaves  of  bread,  and  two  or  three 
flowers  from  the  hot-house.  Thank  God  for  all  that.  But 
listen  again,  and  you  hear  the  thousand-voiced  shriek  of 
blasphemy  tearing  its  way  up  from  the  depths  of  the  city. 
You  see  the  uplifted  decanters  emptied  now,  but  uplifted  to 
fight  down  the  devils  they  have  raised.  Listen  to  that  wild 
laugh  at  the  street  corner,  that  makes  the  pure  shudder  and 
say,  "Poor  thing,  that's  a  lost  soul!"  Hark!  to  the  click  of 
the  gambler's  dice  and  the  hysteric  guffaw  of  him  who  has 


402 


MUNICIPAL  SINS. 


pocketed  the  last  dollar  of  that  young  man's  estate.  This  is 
the  banquet  of  Bacchus.  That  young  man  has  taken  his 
first  glass.  That  man  has  taken  down  three-fourths  of  his 
estate.  This  man  is  trembling  with  last  night's  debauch. 
This  man  has  pawned  everything  save  that  old  coat.  This 
man  is  in  delirium,  sitting  pale  and  unaware  of  anything 
that  is  transpiring  about  him — quiet,  until  after  a  while  he 
rises  up  with  a  shriek,  enough  to  make  the  denizens  of  the 
pit  clap  to  the  door,  and  put  their  fingers  in  their  ears,  and 
rattle  their  chains  still  louder  to  drown  out  the  horrible  out- 
cry. You  say,  "Is  it  not  strange  that  there  should  be  so 
much  suffering  and  sin  in  our  cities?"  No,  it  is  not  strange. 
When  I  look  abroad  and  see  the  temptations  that  are  attempt- 
ing to  destroy  men  for  time  and  for  eternity,  I  am  surprised 
in  the  other  direction  that  there  are  any  true,  upright,  honest, 
Christian  people  left.  There  is  but  little  hope  for  any  man 
in  these  great  cities  who  has  not  established  in  his  soul  sound, 
thorough  Christian  principle. 

Look  around  you  and  see  the  temptations  to  commercial 
frauds.  Here  is  a  man  who  starts  in  business.  He  says, 
"I  am  going  to  be  honest;"  but  on  the  same  street,  on  the 
same  block,  in  the  same  business,  are  Shylocks.  Those 
men,  to  get  the  patronage  of  any  one,  will  break  all  under- 
standings with  other  merchants,  and  will  sell  at  ruinous  cost, 
putting  their  neighbors  at  great  disadvantage,  expecting  to 
make  up  the  deficit  on  something  else.  If  an  honest  prin- 
ciple could  creep  into  that  man's  soul,  it  would  die  of  sheer 
loneliness!  The  man  twists  about,  trying  to  escape  the 
penalty  of  the  law,  and  despises  God,  while  he  is  just  a  little 
anxious  about  the  sheriff.  The  honest  man  looks  about  him 
and  says,  "Well,  this  rivalry  is  awful.  Perhaps  I  am  more 
scrupulous  than  I  need  be.  This  little  bargain  I  am  about 
to  enter  is  a  little  doubtful;  but  then  they  all  do  it."  I  had 
a  friend  who  started  in  commercial  life,  and  as  a  book  mer- 
chant, with  a  high  resolve.    He  said,  "In  my  store  there 


MUNICIPAL  SINS. 


403 


shall  be  no  books  that  I  would  not  have  my  family  read." 
Time  passed  on,  and  one  day  I  went  into  his  store  and  found 
some  iniquitous  books  on  the  shelf,  and  I  said  to  him,  "How 
is  it  possible  that  you  can  consent  to  sell  such  books  as 
these?"  "Oh,"  he  replied,  "I  have  got  over  those  Puritanical 
notions.  A  man  cannot  do  business  in  this  day  unless  he 
does  it  the  way  other  people  do  it."  To  make  a  long  story 
short,  he  lost  his  hope  of  heaven,  and  in  a  little  while  he 
lost  his  morality,  and  then  he  went  into  a  mad-house.  In 
other  words,  when  a  man  casts  off  God,  God  casts  him  off. 

One  of  the  mightiest  temptations  in  commercial  life  in 
all  our  cities,  to-day,  is  in  the  fact  that  many  professed 
Christian  men  are  not  square  in  their  bargains.  Such  men 
are  in  Baptist  and  Methodist  and  Congregational  and  Presby- 
terian Churches.  Our  good  merchants  are  foremost  in  Chris- 
tian enterprises ;  they  are  patronizers  of  art,  philanthropic 
and  patriotic.  God  will  attend  to  them  in  the  day  of  His 
coronation.  I  am  not  speaking  of  them,  but  of  those  in 
commercial  life  who  are  setting  a  ruinous  example  to  young 
merchants.  Go  through  all  the  stores  and  through  all  the 
offices,  and  tell  me  in  how  many  of  those  stores  and  offices 
are  the  principles  of  Christ's  religion  dominant?  In  three- 
fourths  of  them?  No.  In  half  of  them?  No.  In  one- 
tenth  of  them?    Decide  for  yourself. 

The  impression  is  abroad,  somehow,  that  charity  can 
consecrate  iniquitous  gains,  and  that  if  a  man  give  to  God  a 
portion  of  an  unrighteous  bargain,  then  the  Lord  will  forgive 
him  for  the  rest.  The  secretary  of  a  benevolent  society  came 
to  me  and  said,  "Mr.  So  and  So  has  given  a  large  amount  of 
money  to  the  missionary  cause,"  mentioning  the  sum.  I 
said,  "I  can't  believe  it."  He  said,  "It  is  so."  I  went  home, 
staggered  and  confounded.  I  never  knew  the  man  to  give  to 
anything;  but  after  awhile  I  found  out  that  he  had  been 
engaged  in  the  most  infamous  kind  of  an  oil  swindle,  and 
then  he  proposed  to  compromise  the  matter  with  the  Lord, 


404 


MUNICIPAL  SINS. 


saying,  "Now  here  is  so  much  for  Thee,  Lord.  Please  to  let 
me  off ! "  I  want  to  tell  you  that  the  Church  of  God  is  not  a 
shop  for  receiving  stolen  goods,  and  that  if  you  have  taken 
anything  from  your  fellows,  you  had  better  return  it  to  the 
men  to  whom  it  belongs.  If  from  the  nature  of  the  circum- 
stances that  be  impossible,  you  had  better  get  your  stove 
red-hot,  and  when  the  flames  are  at  their  fiercest  toss  in  the 
blasted  spoil.    God  does  not  want  it. 

The  commercial  world  to-day  is  rotten  through  and 
through,  and  many  of  you  know  better  than  I  can  tell  you 
that  it  requires  great  strength  of  moral  character  to  with- 
stand the  temptations  to  business  dishonesties.  Thank  God, 
a  great  many  of  you  have  withstood  the  temptations,  and 
are  as  pure  and  upright  and  honest  as  the  day  when  you  en- 
tered business.  But  you  are  the  exceptions  in  the  case. 
God  will  sustain  a  man,  however,  amid  all  the  excitements 
of  business,  if  he  will  only  put  his  trust  in  Him.  In  a  drug- 
store, in  Philadelphia,  a  young  man  was  told  he  must  sell 
blackening  on  the  Lord's  day.  He  said  to  the  head  man  of 
the  firm,  I  can't  possibly  do  that.  I  am  willing  to  sell  medi- 
cines on  the  Lord's  day,  for  I  think  that  is  right  and  neces- 
sary; but  I  can't  sell  this  patent  blackening.  He  was  dis- 
charged from  the  place.  A  Christian  man  hearing  of  it,  took 
him  into  his  employ,  and  he  went  on  from  one  success  to 
another,  until  he  was  known  all  over  the  land  for  his  faith 
in  God  and  his  good  works,  as  well  as  for  his  worldly  success. 
When  a  man  has  sacrificed  any  temporal  financial  good  for 
the  sake  of  his  spiritual  interests,  the  Lord  is  on  his  side, 
and  one  with  God  is  a  majority. 

Look  around  you  and  see  the  pressure  of  political  life. 
How  many  are  going  down  under  this  influence.  There  is 
not  one  man  out  of  a  thousand  that  can  stand  political  life 
in  our  cities.  Once  in  a  wThile  a  man  comes  and  says,  "Now 
I  love  my  city  and  my  country,  and,  in  the  strength  of  God,  I 
am  going  in  as  a  sort  of  missionary  to  reform  politics."  The 


MUNICIPAL  SINS. 


405 


Lord  is  on  his  side.  He  comes  out  as  pure  as  when  he  went 
in,  and,  with  such  an  idea,  I  believe  he  will  be  sustained; 
but  he  is  the  exception.  When  such  an  upright,  pure  man 
does  step  into  politics,  the  first  thing,  the  newspapers  take 
the  job  of  blackening  him  all  over,  and  they  review  all  his 
past  life,  and  distort  everything  that  he  has  done,  until,  from 
thinking  himself  a  highly  respectable  citizen,  he  begins  to 
contemplate  what  a  mercy  it  is  that  he  has  been  so  long  out 
of  prison.  What  a  bewitching  thing  is  political  life  for 
many  of  our  young  men.  They  go  in  at  the  grog-shop  cau- 
cus. They  come  out  at  the  ballot-box.  To  get  nominations 
they  must  sidle  up  along  the  rum- soaked  population.  They 
must  "treat;"  they  must  go  into  the  low  saloon  which  is 
marked  by  a  mug  of  beer  on  the  sign ;  they  must  cross  palms 
with  the  lecherous  wretches;  they  must  chuckle  over  their 
low  jokes;  yea,  they  must  go  down  to  the  level  of  their  con- 
stituency. What  is  the  matter  of  that  man  who  once  moved 
in  polite  circles,  and  often  in  Christian  circles?  What  is  the 
matter  of  his  coat?  It  is  lacking  in  neatness.  What  is  the 
matter  of  his  eye?  It  is  not  so  clear.  What  is  the  matter 
of  his  cheek?  It  has  an  unnatural  flush.  What  is  the  mat- 
ter of  his  hat?  It  is  a  rowdy's  hat.  Why  has  his  entire 
nature  gone  down  seventy-five  per  cent  in  moral  tone  ?  He 
has  gone  into  politics.  The  most  hopeless,  God-forsaken 
people  in  all  our  cities  are  those  who,  not  in  a  missionary 
spirit,  but  with  the  idea  of  sordid  gain,  have  gone  into  politi- 
cal life.  I  pray  for  the  prisoners  in  jail,  and  think  they 
may  be  converted  to  God,  but  I  never  have  any  faith  to  pray 
for  an  old  politician.  I  suppose  God  could  convert  him,  but 
I  do  not  know  of  any  case.  For  the  last  twenty-five  years, 
in  our  great  cities,  the  political  history  has  been  a  history  of 
fraud,  of  chicanery,  of  gouging  and  of  swindling,  until  New 
York  had  a  debt  of  one  hundred  and  twenty  million  dollars. 
Park  swindles.  Water  Board  swindles.  Street  swindles. 
Boulevard  swindles.    Penitentiary  swindles.    City  armory 


406 


MUNICIPAL  SINS. 


swindles.  Swindles  of  black  and  white.  Swindles  of 
all  sizes.  What  an  appalling  state  of  political  life  the 
simple  fact  that  John  Morrissey  could  be  a  senator!  Ever 
and  anon  we  get  up  a  class  of  reformers  and  we  send 
them  into  political  life,  and,  before  we  know  it,  some  of 
them  are  in  the  race  of  dishonesty,  until  we  are  in  a  state  of 
bewilderment,  and  do  not  know  who  are  the  worst — the  men 
in  the  "ring,"  or  those  who  are  out  of  the  "ring."  New  York 
Post-office  costing  more  than  the  Parliament  Houses  of  Eng- 
land; more,  lam  told,  than  the  "Capitol"  at  Washington. 
But  where  went  the  money?  Ask  the  Connollys  and  the 
Sweeneys  and  the  Tweeds  of  modern  politics. 

Our  young  men  say  that  political  life  is  a  quick  road  to 
fortune.  They  say,  "I  know  men  who  five  years  ago  were 
worth  nothing,  who  now  have  everything."  Of  the  one 
hundred  who  go  into  political  life,  I  bid  an  eternal  farewell  to 
ninety-nine  of  them.  Their  morals  will  be  debauched. 
Their  families  will  be  disgraced.  Their  souls  will  be 
damned.  For  a  little  while  they  will  lounge  around 
the  Court  House  in  the  winter,  and  in  the  summer  flash  in 
and  out  at  the  Saratoga  races,  and  then  there  will  be  a  big 
funeral,  with  a  long  line  of  carriages  full  of  bloats.  That 
will  be  the  earthly  end  of  the  politician.  Starting  in  a 
grog-shop  caucus:  ending  at  the  burying  ground.  The 
family  doctor  certifying  to  the  Board  of  Health  that  the 
Honorable  Mr.  So  and  So  died  of  congestion — a  soft  way  of 
putting  delirium  tremens. 

Then  look  around  and  see  the  allurements  to  an  impure 
life.  Bad  books,  unknown  to  father  and  mother,  vile  as  the 
lice  of  Egypt,  creeping  into  some  of  the  best  families ;  and 
boys  read  them  while  the  teacher  is  looking  the  other  way. 
or  at  recess,  or  on  the  corner  of  the  street,  when  the  groups 
are  gathered.  These  books  are  read  late  at  night.  Satan 
finds  them  a  smooth  plank  on  which  he  can  slide  down  into 
perdition  some  of  your  sons  and  daughters.    Beading  bad 


MUNICIPAL  SINS. 


407 


books — one  never  gets  over  it.  The  books  may  be  burned, 
but  there  is  not  enough  powder  in  all  the  apothecary's 
preparations  to  wash  out  the  stain  from  the  soul.  Father's 
hands,  mother's  hands,  sister's  hands  will  not  wash  it  out. 
None  but  the  hand  of  the  Lord  God  can  wash  it  out.  And 
what  is  more  perilous  in  regard  to  these  temptations,  we  may 
not  mention  them.  While  God  in  the  Bible,  from  chapter  to 
chapter,  thunders  His  denunciation  against  these  crimes, 
people  expect  the  pulpit  and  the  printing-press  to  be 
silent  on  the  subject,  and  just  in  proportion  as  people  are 
impure  are  they  fastidious  on  the  theme.  They  are  so  full  of 
decay  and  death  they  do  not  want  their  sepulchers  opened. 
But  I  shall  not  be  hindered  by  them.  I  shall  go  on  in  the 
name  of  the  Lord  Almighty,  before  whom  you  and  I  must  at 
last  come  in  judgment,  and  I  shall  pursue  that  vile  sin,  and 
thrust  it  with  the  two-edged  sword  of  God's  truth,  though  I 
find  it  sheltered  under  the  chandeliers  of  some  of  your  beau- 
tiful parlors.  God  will  turn  into  destruction  all  the  unclean, 
and  no  splendors  of  surrounding  can  make  decent  that 
which  He  has  smitten.  God  will  not  excuse  sin  merely 
because  it  has  costly  array  and  beautiful  tapestry  and  palatial 
residence  any  more  than  He  will  excuse  that  which  crawls,  a 
blotch  of  sores,  through  the  lowest  cellar  in  Elm  street. 
Ever  and  anon,  through  some  law-suit,  there  flashes  upon 
the  people  of  our  great  cities  what  is  transpiring  in  seem- 
ingly respectable  circles.  You  call  it  "High  life,"  you  call  it 
"Past  living,"  you  call  it  "People's  eccentricity. "  And 
while  we  kick  off  the  sidewalk  the  poor  wretch  who  has  not 
the  means  to  garnish  his  iniquity,  these  lords  and  ladies, 
wrapped  in  purple  and  fine  linen,  go  un whipped  of  public 
justice.  You  call  it  "High  life,"  "Past  living/ '  "Eccentric- 
ity." I  call  it  the  vomit  of  hell!  Ah,  the  most  dreadful 
part  of  the  whole  thing  is  that  there  are  persons  abroad 
whose  whole  business  it  is  to  despoil  the  young.  Salaried  by 
infamous  establishments,  these  cormorants  of  darkness, 


408 


MUNICIPAL  SINS. 


these  incarnate  fiends  hang  around  your  hotels  and  your 
engine  houses  and  your  theaters,  and  they  insinuate  them- 
selves among  the  clerks  of  your  stores,  and  by  adroitest  art, 
sometimes  get  in  the  purest  circles.  Oh,  what  an  eternity 
such  a  man  as  that  will  have !  As  the  door  opens  to  receive 
him,  thousands  of  voices  will  cry  out:  "See  here  what  you 
have  done;"  and  the  wretch  will  wrap  himself  with  fiercer 
flame  and  leap  into  deeper  darkness,  and  the  multitudes  he 
has  destroyed  will  pursue  him,  and  hurl  at  him  the  long, 
bitter,  relentless,  everlasting  curse  of  their  own  anguish.  If 
there  be  one  cup  of  eternal  darkness  more  bitter  than 
another,  they  will  have  to  drink  it  to  the  dregs.  If,  in  all 
the  ocean  of  the  lost  world  that  . comes  billowing  up,  there  be 
one  wave  more  fierce  than  another,  it  will  dash  over  them. 
"God  will  wound  the  hairy  scalp  of  him  whogoeth  on  still  in 
his  trespasses." 

I  think  you  are  persuaded  there  is  but  little  chance  in  our 
great  cities  for  any  young  man  without  the  grace  of  God.  I 
will  even  go  further  and  make  it  more  emphatic  and  say 
there  is  no  chance  for  any  young  man  who  has  not  above 
him,  and  beneath  him,  and  before  him,  and  behind  him,  and 
on  the  right  of  him,  and  on  the  left  of  him,  and  within  him 
the  all-protecting  grace  of  God.  My  word  of  warning  is  to 
those  who  have  recently  come  to  the  city;  some  of  them 
entering  banking  institutions,  and  some  of  them  stores  and 
shops.  Shelter  yourselves  in  God.  Do  not  trust  yourselves 
an  hour  without  the  defenses  of  Christ's  religion. 

I  stood  one  day  at  Niagara  Falls,  and  I  saw  what  you 
may  have  seen  there,  six  rainbows  bending  over  that  tremen- 
dous plunge.  I  never  saw  anything  like  it  before  or  since. 
Six  beautiful  rainbows  arching  that  great  cataract!  And  so 
over  the  rapids  and  the  angry  precipices  of  sin,  where  so 
many  have  been  dashed  down,  God's  beautiful  admonitions 
hover,  a  warning  arching  each  peril — six  of  them,  fifty  of 
them — a  thousand  of  them.     Beware!  beware!  beware! 


410 


MUNICIPAL  SINS. 


Young  men,  while  you  have  time  reflect  upon  these  things, 
and  before  the  duties  of  the  office  and  the  store  and  the  shop 
come  upon  you,  look  over  this  whole  subject,  and  after  the 
day  has  passed,  and  you  hear  in  the  nightfall  the  voices  and 
the  footsteps  of  the  city  dying  from  your  ear,  and  it  gets  so 
silent  that  you  can  hear  distinctly  your  watch  under  your 
pillow  going  "tick,  tick!"  then  open  your  eyes  and  look  out 
upon  the  darkness  and  see  two  pillars  of  light,  one  horizontal, 
the  other  perpendicular,  but  changing  their  direction  until 
they  come  together,  and  your  enraptured  vision  beholds  it — 
the  cross! 


CHAPTER  XXXII. 


CURE  OF  FINANCES. 

Our  blessings  are  so  much  more  numerous  than  our 
deserts  that  the  writer  is  surprised  that  anybody  should  ever 
find  fault.  Having  life,  and  with  it  a  thousand  blessings,  it 
ought  to  hush  into  perpetual  silence  everything  like  criticism 
of  the  dealings  of  God.  " Wherefore  doth  a  living  man 
complain?" 

For  the  lastfew  years  the  land  has  been  set  to  the  tune  of 
"  Naomi."  There  has  been  here  and  there  a  cheerful  soloist, 
but  the  grand  chorus  has  been  one  of  lamentation,  accom- 
panied by  dirges  over  prostrated  commerce,  silent  manufac- 
tories, unemployed  mechanism,  and  all  those  disorders 
described  by  the  two  short  words  "  hard  times."  The  fact  is 
that  we  have  been  paying  for  the  bloody  luxury  of  war. 
There  were  great  national  differences,  and  we  had  not  enough 
Christian  character  to  settle  them  by  arbitration  and  treaty, 
and  so  we  went  into  battle,  wasting  life  and  treasure,  and  well 
nigh  swamping  the  national  finances;  and  North  and  South, 
East  and  West  have  ever  since  been  paying  for  these  four 
years'  indulgence  in  barbarism.  But  the  time  has  come 
when  this  depression  ought  to  end,—  yea,  when  it  will  end, 
if  the  people  are  willing  to  do  two  or  three  things  by  way  of 
financial  medicament.  The  best  political  economists  tell  us 
that  there  is  no  good  reason  for  continued  prostration.  Plenty 
of  money  awaiting  investment.  Magnificent  harvests  crowd- 
ing down  from  the  West  to  the  seaboard.  The  national 
health  with  never  so  strong  an  arm  or  so  clear  a  brain.  Yet 
we  go  on  groaning,  groaning,  groaning,  as  though  God  had  put 

(411) 


412 


CURE   OF  FINANCES. 


this  nation  upon  gruel,  and  allowed  us  but  one  decent  breakfast 
in  six  months.  The  fact  is  the  habit  of  complaining  has 
become  chronic  in  this  country,  and  after  all  these  years  of 
whimper  and  wailing  and  objurgation,  we  are  under  such  a 
momentum  of  snivel  that  we  cannot  stop. 

There  are  three  prescriptions  by  which  I  believe  that  our 
individual  and  national  finances  may  be  cured  of  their 
present  depression.  The  first  is  cheerful  conversation  and 
behavior.  I  have  noticed  that  the  people  who  are  most  vocif- 
erous against  the  day  in  which  we  live  are  those  who  are  in 
comfortable  circumstances.  I  have  made  inquiry  of  those 
persons  who  are  violent  in  their  jeremiades  against  these 
times,  and  I  have  asked  them:  "  Now,  after  all,  are  you  not 
making  a  living?  "  And  after  some  hesitation  and  coughing 
and  clearing  their  throat  three  or  four  times,  they  say,  stam- 
meringiy:  "  Y-e-s."  So  that  with  a  great  multitude  of 
people  it  is  not  a  question  of  getting  a  livelihood,  but  they 
are  dissatisfied  because  they  cannot  make  as  much  money  as 
they  would  like  to  make.  They  have  only  two  thousand 
dollars  in  the  bank,  where  they  would  like  to  have  four 
thousand.  They  can  clear  in  a  year  only  five  thousand 
dollars,  when  they  would  like  to  clear  ten  thousand,  or  things 
come  out  just  even.  Or  in  their  trade  they  get  two  dollars 
a  day  when  they  wish  they  could  get  three  or  four.  "Oh!  " 
says  some  one,  "  are  you  not  aware  of  the  fact  that  there  is  a 
great  population  out  of  employment,  and  that  there  are  hun- 
dreds of  the  good  families  of  this  country  who  are  at  theii 
wits'  ends,  not  knowing  which  way  to  turn?  "  Yes,  I  know 
it  better  than  any  man  in  private  life  can  know  that  sad 
fact,  for  it  comes  constantly  to  my  eye  and  ear.  But  who  is 
responsible  for  this  state  of  things? 

Much  of  that  responsibility  I  put  upon  men  in  comfort- 
able circumstances,  who,  by  an  everlasting  growling,  keep 
public  confidence  depressed  and  new  enterprises  from  starting 
out  and  new  houses  from  being  built.    You  know  very  well 


CURE  OF  FINANCES. 


413 


that  one  despondent  man  can  talk  fifty  men  into  despondency, 
while  one  cheerful  physician  can  wake  up  into  exhilaration  a 
whole  asylum  of  hypochondriacs.  It  is  no  kindness  to  the 
poor  or  the  unemployed  for  you  to  join  in  this  deploration. 
If  you  have  not  the  wit  and  the  common  sense  to  think  of 
something  cheerful  to  say,  then  keep  silent.  There  is  no 
man  that  can  be  independent  of  depressed  conversation. 
The  medical  journals  are  ever  illustrating  it.  I  was  reading 
of  five  men  who  resolved  that  they  would  make  an  experi- 
ment and  see  what  they  could  do  in  the  way  of  depressing  a 
stout,  healthy  man,  and  they  resolved  to  meet  him  at  different 
points  in  his  journey;  and  as  he  stepped  out  from  his  house 
in  the  morning  in  robust  health,  one  of  the  five  men  met  him 
and  said:  * 'Why,  you  look  very  sick  to-day.  What  is  the 
matter?"  "He  said:  "I  am  in  excellent  health;  there  is 
nothing  the  matter."  But  passing  down  the  street,  he  began 
to  examine  his  symptoms,  and  the  second  of  the  five  men 
met  him  and  said:  "Why,  how  bad  you  do  look."  "Well," 
he  replied,  "I  don't  feel  very  well!"  After  a  while,  the  third 
man  met  him,  and  the  fourth  man  met  him,  and  the  fifth 
came  up  and  said,  uWhy,  you  look  as  if  you  had  had  the 
typhoid  fever  for  six  weeks.  What  is  the  matter  with  you?" 
And  the  man  against  whom  the  stratagem  had  been  laid  went 
home  and  died.  And  if  you  meet  a  man  with  perpetual  talk 
about  hard  times  and  bankruptcy  and  dreadful  winters  that 
are  to  come,  you  break  down  his  courage.  A  few  autumns 
ago,  as  the  winter  was  coming  on,  people  said:  "We  shall 
have  a  terrible  winter.  The  poor  will  be  frozen  out  this 
winter."  There  was  something  in  the  large  store  of  acorns 
that  the  squirrels  had  gathered,  and  something  in  the  phases 
of  the  moon,  and  something  in  other  portents,  that  made  you 
certain  we  were  going  to  have  a  hard  winter.  Winter  came. 
It  was  the  mildest  one  within  my  memory  and  within  yours. 
All  that  winter  long  I  do  not  think  there  was  an  icicle  that 
hung  through  the  day  from  the  eaves  of  the  house.    So  you 


4-14 


CURE  OF  FINANCES. 


prophesied  falsely.  Last  winter  was  coming,  and  the  people 
said:  "We  shall  have  unparalleled  suffering  among  the  poor. 
It  will  be  a  dreadful  winter."  Sure  enough  it  was  a  cold 
winter;  but  there  were  more  large-hearted  charities  than  ever 
before  poured  out  on  the  country ;  better  provision  made  for 
the  poor,  so  that  there  have  been  scores  of  winters  when  the 
poor  had  a  harder  time  than  they  did  last  winter.  Another 
winter  is  coming  on,  and  I  hear  the  evil  prophecy  already 
rising  on  the  air.  I  hear  it  everywhere.  Now,  let  me  tell 
you,  you  lied  twice  about  winter,  and  I  believe  you  are  lying 
this  time !  I  will  give  my  prophecy  on  this  coming  winter. 
That  is,  it  will  be  the  easiest  winter  we  ever  had,  either  in 
one  way  or  the  other.  If  it  be  severe  in  temperature,  then  I 
believe  there  will  be  such  Christian  beneficence  that  the  poor 
will  not  suffer  more  than  they  ever  have  before. 

Wendell  Phillips  was  so  overborne  with  the  dolorousness 
of  the  times,  that  he  said  if  we  do  not  inflate,  we  shall  have 
communistic  outrages  in  this  country  such  as  they  had  in 
France.  I  do  not  believe  it.  The  parallel  does  not  run. 
They  have  no  Sabbath,  no  Bible,  no  God,  in  Prance.  We 
have  all  these  defenses  for  our  American  people,  and  public 
opinion  is  such  that  if  people  in  this  country  attempt  a  cut- 
throat expedition,  they  will  land  in  Sing  Sing,  or  from  the 
gallows  go  up  on  tight  rope.  I  do  not  believe  the  people  of 
this  country  will  ever  commit  outrages  and  riot  and  murder 
for  the  sake  of  getting  bread.  But  all  this  lugubrosity  of 
tone  and  face  keeps  people  down.  Now  I  will  make  a  con- 
tract. If  the  people  of  the  United  States  for  one  week  will 
talk  cheerfully,  I  will  open  all  the  manufactories ;  I  will  give 
employment  to  all  the  unoccupied  men  and  women;  I  will 
make  a  lively  market  for  your  real  estate  that  is  eating  you 
up  with  taxes;  I  will  stop  the  long  processions  on  the  way 
to  the  poor-house  and  the  penitentiary,  and  I  will  spread  a 
plentiful  table  from  Maine  to  California  and  from  Oregon  to 
Sandy  Hook,  and  the  whole  land  shall  carol  and  thunder 


CURE  OF  FINANCES.  415 

with  national  jubilee.  But  says  some  one:  "I  will  take 
that  contract;  but  we  can't  affect  the  whole  nation."  My 
readers,  representing  as  you  do  all  professions,  all  trades, 


WENDELL  PHILLIPS. 

and  all  occupations,  if  you  should  resolve  never  again  to 
utter  a  dolorous  word  about  the  money  markets,  but  by 
manner  and  by  voice  and  by  wit  and  caricature,  and  above 


416 


CURE  OF  FINANCES. 


all  by  faith  in  God,  to  try  to  scatter  this  national  gloom,  do 
you  not  believe  the  influence  would  be  instantaneous  and 
wide-spread?  The  effect  would  be  felt  around  the  world. 
For  God's  sake,  and  for  the  sake  of  the  poor  and  for  the 
sake  of  the  unemployed,  quit  growling.  Depend  upon  it,  if 
you  men  in  comfortable  circumstances  do  not  stop  complain- 
ing, God  will  blast  your  harvests,  and  see  how  you  will  get 
along  without  a  corn  crop ;  and  He  will  sweep  you  with  floods 
as  he  did  Galveston;  and  He  will  devour  you  with  grasshop- 
pers as  He  did  Minnesota;  and  He  will  burn  your  city  as  He 
did  Chicago.  If  you  men  in  comfortable  circumstances  keep 
on  complaining,  God  will  give  you  something  to  complain 
about.    Mark  that! 

The  second  prescription  for  the  alleviation  of  financial 
distresses  is  proper  Christian  investment.  God  demands  of 
every  individual  State,  and  nation  a  certain  proportion  of 
their  income.  We  are  parsimonious !  We  keep  back  from 
God  that  which  belongs  to  Him,  and  when  we  keep  back  any- 
thing from  God,  He  takes  what  we  keep  back,  and  He  takes 
more.  He  takes  it  by  storm,  by  sickness,  by  bankruptcy,  by 
any  one  of  the  ten  thousand  ways  which  he  can  employ. 
The  reason  many  of  you  are  cramped  in  business  is  because 
you  have  never  learned  the  lesson  of  Christian  generosity. 
You  employ  an  agent.  You  give  him  a  reasonable  salary; 
and,  lo!  you  find  out  that  he  is  appropriating  your  funds 
besides  the  salary.  What  do  you  do?  Discharge  him. 
Well,  we  are  God's  agents.  He  puts  in  our  hands  certain 
moneys.  Part  are  to  be  ours ;  part  are  to  be  His.  Suppose 
we  take  all,  what  then?  He  will  discharge  us;  He  will  turn 
us  over  to  financial  disasters,  and  take  the  trust  away  from 
us.  The  reason  that  great  multitudes  are  not  prospered  in 
business  is  simply  because  they  have  been  withholding  from 
God  that  which  belongs  to  Him.  The  rule  is,  give  and  you 
will  receive ;  administer  liberally  and  you  shall  have  more  to 
administer.    1  am  in  full  sympathy  with  the  man  who  was 


CURE  OF  FINANCES. 


417 


to  be  baptized  by  immersion,  and  some  one  said:  "You had 
better  leave  your  pocket-book  out;  it  will  get  wet."  "No," 
said  he,  "I  want  to  go  down  under  the  wave  with  everything. 
I  want  to  consecrate  my  property  and  all  to  God."  And  so 
he  was  baptized.  What  we  want  in  this  country  is  more 
baptized  pocket-books. 

I  had  a  relative  whose  business  seemed  to  be  failing. 
Here  a  loss,  and  there  a  loss,  and  everything  was  bothering, 
perplexing,  and  annoying  him.  He  sat  down  one  day,  and 
said*  "God  must  have  a  controversy  with  me  about  some- 
thing. I  believe  I  haven't  given  enough  to  the  cause  of 
Christ."  And  there  and  then  he  took  out  his  check-book 
and  wrote  a  large  check  for  a  missionary  society.  He  told 
me:  "That  was  the  turning-point  in  my  business.  Ever 
since  then  I  have  been  prosperous.  From  that  very  day, 
aye,  from  that  very  hour,  I  saw  the  change."  And,  sure 
enough,  he  went  on,  and  he  gathered  a  fortune.  The  only 
safe  investment  that  a  man  can  make  in  this  world  is  in  the 
cause  of  Christ.  I  have  tried  it  personally  on  a  small  scale. 
When  I  have  been  mean  and  stingy  toward  the  cause  of 
Christ,  I  have  been  perplexed  in  financial  things.  When  I 
have  been  comparatively  liberal,  it  has  come  right  back 
upon  me.  I  never  yet  gave  God  one  dollar  but  He  returned 
five.  If  a  man  give  from  a  superabundance,  God  may  or  He 
may  not  respond  with  a  blessing;  but  if  a  man  give  until  he 
feels  it,  if  a  man  give  until  it  fetches  the  blood,  if  a  man 
give  until  his  selfishness  cringes  and  twists  and  cowers  under 
it,  he  will  get  not  only  spiritual  profit,  but  he  will  get  paid 
back  in  hard  cash  or  in  convertible  securities.  We  often  see 
men  who  are  tight-fisted  who  seem  to  get  along  with  their 
investments  very  profitably,  notwithstanding  all  their  parsi- 
mony. But  wait.  Suddenly  in  that  man's  history  every- 
thing goes  wrong.  His  health  fails,  or  his  reason  is 
dethroned,  or  a  domestic  curse  smites  him,  or  a  midnight 
shadow  of  some  kind  drops  upon  his  soul  and  upon  his  busi- 


418 


CURE   OF  FINANCES. 


ness.  What  is  the  matter?  God  is  punishing  him  for  his 
small-heartedness.  He  tried  to  cheat  God,  and  God  worsted 
him.  So  that  one  of  the  recipes  for  the  cure  of  individual 
and  national  finances  is  more  generosity.  Where  you 
bestowed  one  dollar  on  the  cause  of  Christ,  give  two.  God 
loves  to  be  trusted,  and  He  is  very  apt  to  trust  back  again. 
He  says:  "That  man  knows  how  to  handle  money;  he  shall 
have  more  money  to  handle;"  and  very  soon  the  property 
that  was  on  the  market  for  a  great  while  gets  a  purchaser, 
and  the  bond  that  was  not  worth  more  than  fifty  cents  on  a 
dollar  goes  to  par,  and  the  opening  of  a  new  street  doubles 
the  value  of  his  house,  or  in  any  way  of  a  million  God 
blesses  him. 

Once  the  man  finds  out  that  secret,  and  he  goes  on  to 
fortune.  There  are  men  whom  I  have  known  who  for  ten 
years  have  been  trying  to  pay  God  one  thousand  dollars. 
They  have  never  been  able  to  get  it  paid,  for  just  as  they 
were  taking  out  from  one  fold  of  their  pocket-book  a  bill, 
mysteriously  somehow  in  some  other  fold  of  their  pocket- 
book  there  came  a  larger  bill.  You  tell  me  that  Christian 
generosity  pays  in  the  world  to  come.  I  tell  you  it  pays 
now,  pays  in  hard  cash,  pays  in  government  securities.  You 
do  not  believe  it?  Ah,  that  is  what  keeps  you  back.  I  knew 
you  did  not  believe  it.  The  whole  world  and  Christendom  is 
to  be  reconstructed  on  this  subject,  and  as  you  are  a  part  of 
Christendom,  let  the  work  begin  in  your  own  soul.  "But," 
says  some  one,  "I  don't  believe  that  theory;  because  I  have 
been  generous  and  I  have  been  losing  money  for  ten  years." 
Then  God  prepaid  you,  that  is  all.  What  became  of  the 
money  that  you  made  in  other  days?  You  say  to  your  son: 
"Now  I  will  give  you  five  hundred  dollars  every  year  as  long 
as  you  live."  After  a  while  you  say:  "Well,  my  son,  you 
prove  yourself  so  worthy  of  my  confidence  I  will  just  give 
you  twenty  thousand  dollars  in  a  single  lump."  And  you 
give  it  to  him  and  he  starts  off.    In  two  or  three  years  he 


CURE   OF  FINANCES. 


419 


does  not  complain  against  you :  "Father  is  not  taking  care 
of  me.  I  ought  to  have  five  hundred  dollars  a  year."  You 
prepaid  your  son,  and  he  does  not  complain.  There  are 
thousands  of  us  now  who  can  this  year  get  just  enough  to 
supply  our  wants ;  but  did  not  God  provide  for  us  in  the 
past,  and  has  He  not  again  and  again  and  again  paid  us  in 
advance?  In  other  words,  trusted  you  all  along — trusted 
you  more  than  you  had  a  right  to  ask?  Strike,  then,  a  bal- 
ance for  God.  Economize  in  anything  rather  than  in  your 
Christian  charities.  There  is  not  more  than  one  out  of 
three  hundred  of  you  who  ever  give  enough  to  do  you  any 
good,  and  when  some  cause  of  Christianity — some  mission- 
ary society  or  Bible  society  or  Church  organization  comes 
along  and  gets  anything  from  you,  what  do  you  say?  You 
say,  "I  have  been  bled,"  and  there  never  was  a  more  signifi- 
cant figure  of  speech  than  that  used  in  common  parlance. 
Yes,  you  have  been  bled,  and  you  are  spiritually  emaciated, 
when  if  you  had  been  courageous  enough  to  go  through  your 
property  and  say:  "That  belongs  to  God,  and  this  belongs  to 
God,  and  the  other  thing  belongs  to  God;"  and  no  more 
dared  to  appropriate  it  to  your  own  use  than  something  that 
belonged  to  your  neighbor,  instead  of  being  bled  to  death  by 
charities  you  would  have  been  reinvigorated  and  recuperated 
and  built  up  for  time  and  for  eternity.  God  will  keep  many 
of  you  cramped  in  money  matters  until  the  day  of  your  death 
unless  you  swing  out  into  larger  generosities. 

People  quote  as  a  joke  what  is  a  divine  promise:  "  Cast 
thy  bread  upon  the  waters,  and  it  will  return  to  thee  after 
many  days."  What  did  God  mean  by  that?  There  is  an 
allusion  there.  In  Egypt,  when  they  sow  the  corn,  it  is  at  a 
time  when  the  Nile  is  overflowing  its  banks  and  they  sow 
the  seed  corn  on  the  waters,  and  as  the  Nile  begins  to  recede 
this  seed  corn  strikes  in  the  earth  and  comes  up  a  harvest, 
and  that  is  the  allusion.  It  seems  as  if  they  are  throwing 
the  corn  away  on  the  waters,  but  after  a  while  they  gather  it 


420 


CUBE   OF  FINANCES. 


up  in  a  harvest.  Now  says  God  in  his  word:  "  Cast  thy 
bread  upon  the  waters,  and  it  shall  come  back  to  thee  after 
many  days."  It  may  seem  to  you  that  you  are  throwing  it  away 
on  charities,  but  it  will  yield  a  harvest  of  green  and  gold — a 
harvest  on  earth  and  a  harvest  in  heaven.  If  men  could 
appreciate  that  and  act  on  that,  we  would  have  no  more 
trouble  about  individual  or  national  finances. 

Prescription  the  third,  for  the  cure  of  all  our  individual 
and  national  financial  distresses :  a  great  spiritual  awakening. 
It  is  no  mere  theory.  The  merchantmen  of  this  country 
were  positively  demented  with  the  monetary  excitement  in 
1857.  There  never  before  nor  since  has  been  such  a  state  of 
financial  depression  as  there  was  at  that  time.    A  revival 

came,  and  three  hund- 
red thousand  people 
were,  born  into  the 
kingdom  of  God„  What 
came  after  the  revival  ? 
The  grandest  financial 
prosperity  we  have  ever 
had  in  this  country. 
The  finest  fortunes,  the 
largest  fortunes  in  the 
United  States,  have 
been  made  since  1857. 
"Well,"  you  say,  "what 
has  spiritual  improve- 
ment and  revival  to 
do  with  monetary  im- 
provement and  re- 
vival?" Much  to  do. 
The  religion  of  Jesus 
Jonathan  edwards.  Christ    has   a  direct 

tendency  to  make  men  honest  and  sober  and  truth -telling, 
and    are    not    honesty   and    sobriety   and  truth-telling 


CURE   OF  FINANCES. 


421 


auxiliaries  of  material  prosperity?  If  we  could  have  an 
awakening  in  this  country  as  in  the  days  of  Jonathan 
Edwards,  of  Northampton,  as  in  the  days  of  Dr.  Finley 
of  Basking  Eidge,  as  in  the  days  of  Dr.  Griffin,  of  Bos- 
ton, the  whole  land  would  rouse  to  a  higher  moral  tone, 
and  with  that  moral  tone  the  honest  business  enter- 
prise of  the  country  would  come  up.  You  say  a  great 
awakening  has  an  influence  upon  the  future  world.  1  tell  you 
it  has  a  direct  influence  upon  the  financial  welfare  of  this 
world.  The  religion  of  Christ  is  no  foe  to  successful  busi- 
ness; it  is  its  best  friend.  And  if  there  should  come  a  great 
awakening  in  this  country,  and  all  the  banks  and  insurance 
companies  and  stores  and  offices  and  shops  should  close  up 
for  two  weeks,  and  do  nothing  but  attend  to  the  public 
worship  of  Almighty  God — -after  such  a  spiritual  vacation 
the  land  would  wake  up  to  such  financial  prosperity  as  we 
have  never  dreamed  of.  Godliness  is  profitable  for  the  life 
that  now  is  as  well  as  for  that  which  is  to  come.  But  my 
readers,  do  not  put  so  much  emphasis  on  worldly  success  as 
to  let  your  eternal  affairs  go  at  loose  ends.  I  have  nothing  to 
say  against  money.  The  more  money  you  get  the  better,  if 
it  comes  honestly  aud  goes  usefully.  For  the  lack  of  it,  sick- 
ness dies  without  medicine,  and  hunger  finds  its  coffin  in  an 
empty  bread-tray,  and  nakedness  shivers  for  clothes  and  fire. 
All  this  canting  tirade  against  money  as  though  it  had  no 
practical  use.  When  I  hear  a  man  indulge  in  it,  it  makes 
me  think  that  the  best  heaven  for  him  would  be  an  everlasting 
poor-house !  No,  there  is  a  practical  use  in  money;  but  while 
we  admit  that,  we  must  also  admit  that  it  cannot  satisfy  the 
soul,  that  it  cannot  pay  for  our  ferriage  across  the  Jordan  of 
death,  that  it  cannot  unlock  the  gate  of  heaven  for  our  immor- 
tal soul.  Yet  there  are  men  who  act  as  though  packs  of  bonds 
and  mortgages  could  be  traded  off  for  a  mansion  in  heaven, 
and  as  though  gold  were  a  legal  tender  in  that  land  where 
it  is  so  common  that  they  make  pavements  out  of  it., 


422 


CURE  OF  FINANCES 


Salvation  by  Christ  is  the  only  salvation.  Treasures  in 
heaven  are  the  only  incorruptible  treasures.  Have  you  ever 
ciphered  out  that  sum  in  loss  and  gain,  "  What  shall  it 
profit  a  man  if  he  gain  the  whole  world  and  lose  his  soul?" 
You  may  wear  fine  apparel  now,  but  the  winds  of  death  will 
flutter  it  like  rags.  Homespun  and  a  threadbare  coat  have 
sometimes  been  the  shadow  of  robes  white  in  the  blood  of 
the  Lamb.  All  the  mines  of  Australia  and  Brazil,  strung  in 
one  carcanet,  are  not  worth  to  you  as  much  as  the  pearl  of 
great  price.  You  remember,  I  suppose,  some  years  ago,  the 
shipwreck  of  the  Central  America  ?  A  storm  came  on  that 
vessel.  The  surges  tramped  the  deck  and  swept  down  through 
the  hatches,  and  there  went  up  a  hundred- voiced  death  shriek. 
The  foam  on  the  jaw  of  the  wave.  The  pitching  of  the  steamer, 
as  though  it  would  leap  a  mountain.  The  glare  of  the  signal 
rockets.  The  long  cough  of  the  steam-pipes.  The  hiss  of 
extinguished  furnaces.  The  walking  of  God  on  the  wave.  0, 
it  was  a  stupendous  spectacle.  But  that  ship  did  not  go  down 
without  a  struggle.  The  passengers  stood  in  long  lines  trying 
to  bail  it  out,  and  men  unused  to  toil  tugged  until  their  hands 
were  blistered  and  their  muscles  were  strained.  After  a 
while  a  sail  came  in  sight.  A  few  passengers  got  off,  but 
the  most  went  down.  The  ship  gave  one  lurch  and  was  losto 
So,  there  are  men  who  go  on  in  life — a  fine  voyage  they 
are  making  out  of  it.  All  is  well,  till  some  euroclydon  of 
business  disaster  comes  upon  them,  and  they  go  down.  The 
bottom  of  this  commercial  sea  is  strewn  with  the  shattered 
hulks.  But,  because  your  property  goes,  shall  your  soul  go? 
0,  no!  There  is  coming  a  more  stupendous  shipwreck  after  a 
while.  This  world — God  launched  it  six  thousand  years  ago, 
and  it  is  sailing  on ;  but  one  day  it  will  stagger  at  the  cry  of 
"fire!"  and  the  timbers  of  the  rocks  will  burn, and  the  moun- 
tains flame  like  masts,  and  the  clouds  like  sails  in  the 
judgment  hurricane.  God  will  take  a  good  many  off  the 
deck,  and  others  out  of  the  berths,  where  they  are  now  sleep- 


CURE  OF  FINANCES. 


423 


ing  in  Jesus.  How  many  shall  go  down?  No  one  will  know 
until  it  is  announced  in  heaven  one  day:  "Shipwreck  of  a 
world!  So  many  millions  saved!  So  many  millions  drowned!" 
Because  your  fortunes  go,  because  your  house  goes,  because 
all  your  earthly  possessions  go,  do  not  let  your  soul  go !  May 
the  Lord  Almighty,  through  the  blood  of  the  everlasting 
covenant,  save  your  souls. 


CHAP  TEE  XXXIII. 


SPOILS. 

"He  shall  devour  the  prey  and  at  night  he  shall  divide 
the  spoils. "  There  is  in  this  story  such  an  affluence  of  simile 
and  allegory,  such  a  mingling  of  metaphors,  that  there  are  a 
thousand  thoughts  in  it  not  on  the  surface.  Old  Jacob, 
dying,  is  telling  the  fortunes  of  his  children.  He  prophesies 
the  devouring  propensities  of  Benjamin  and  his  descendants. 
With  his  dim  old  eyes  he  looks  off  and  sees  the  hunters  going 
out  to  the  fields,  ranging  them  all  day,  and  at  nightfall  com- 
ing home,  the  game  slung  over  the  shoulder,  and  reaching 
the  door  of  the  tent,  the  hunters  begin  to  distribute  the  game, 
and  one  takes  a  coney,  and  another  a  rabbit,  and  another  a 
roe.  Or  it  may  be  a  reference  to  the  habits  of  wild  beasts 
that  slay  their  prey,  and  then  drag  it  back  to  the  cave  or  lair, 
and  divide  it  among  the  young. 

There  is  nothing  more  fascinating  than  the  life  of  a  hunt- 
er. On  a  certain  day  in  all  England  you  can  hear  the  crack 
of  the  sportsman's  gun,  because  grouse  hunting  has  begun; 
and  every  man  that  can  afford  the  time  and  ammunition,  and 
can  draw  a  bead,  starts  for  the  fields.  On  the  20th  of  Octo- 
ber our  woods  and  forests  resound  with  the  shock  of  fire- 
arms, and  are  tracked  of  pointers  and  setters,  because  the 
quail  is  then  a  lawful  prize  for  the  sportsman.  Xenophon 
grew  eloquent  in  regard  to  the  art  of  hunting.  In  the  far 
East  people,  elephant-mounted,  chase  the  tiger.  The  Ameri- 
can Indian  darts  his  arrow  at  the  buffalo  until  the  frightened 
herd  tumble  over  the  rocks.  European  nobles  are  often  found 
in  the  fox  chase  and  at  the  stag  hunt.    Francis  I.  was  called 

(424) 


SPOILS. 


425 


the  father  of  hunting.  Moses  declares  of  Nimrod:  He  was 
a  mighty  hunter  before  the  Lord."    Therefore,  in  all  ages  of 


A  HUNTING  SCENE  IN  MINNESOTA. 

the  world,  the  imagery  of  this  story  ought  to  be  suggestive, 
whether  it  means  a  wolf  after  a  fox,  or  a  man  after  a  lion. 


4:26 


SPOILS. 


"In  the  morning  he  shall  devour  the  prey,  and  at  night  he 
shall  divide  the  spoils."  '  This,  in  the  first  place,  is  descrip- 
tive of  those  people  who,  in  the  morning  of  their  life,  give 
themselves  up  to  hunting  the  world,  but  afterward,  by  the  grace 
of  God,  in  the  evening  of  their  life  divide  among  themselves 
the  spoils  of  Christian  character. 

There  are  aged  Christian  men  and  women  who  would  tell 
you  that  in  the  morning  of  their  life  they  were  after  the  world 
as  intense  as  a  hound  after  a  hare,  or  as  a  falcon  swoops  upon 
a  gazelle.  They  wanted  the  world's  plaudits  and  the  world's 
gains.  They  felt  that  if  they  could  get  this  world  they  would 
have  everything.  Some  of  them  started  out  for  the  pleasures 
of  the  world.    They  thought  that  the  man  who  laughed 


ing  and  grimace.  They  were  so  full  of  glee  they  could 
hardly  repress  their  mirth  even  on  solemn  occasions,  and 
they  came  near  bursting  out  hilariously  even  at  the 
burial,  because  there  was  something  so  dolorous  in  the 
tone  or  countenance  of  the  undertaker.  After  a  while 
misfortune  struck  them  hard  on  the  back.  They  found 
there  was  something  they  could  not  laugh  at.  Under 
their  late  hours  their  health  gave  way,  or  there  was  a 


loudest  was  happiest.  They 
tried  repartee  and  conun- 
drum and  burlesque  and  mad- 
rigal. They  thought  they 
would  like  to  be  Tom  Hoods, 
or  Charles  Lambs,  or  Edgar 
A.  Poes.  They  mingled  wine 
and  music  and  the  spectacu- 
lar. They  were  worshippers 
of  the  harlequin,  and  the 
merry  Andrew,  and  the  buf- 


EDGAR  A.  POE. 


I  foon,  and  the  jester.  Life 
was  to  them  foam  and  bubble 
and  cachination  and  royster- 


SPOILS. 


427 


death  in  the  house.  Of  every  green  thing  their  soul  was 
exfoliated.  They  found  out  that  life  was  more  than  a  joke. 
From  the  heart  of  God  there  blazed  into  their  soul  an  earnest- 
ness they  had  never  felt  before.  They  awoke  to  their  sinful- 
ness and  their  immortality,  and  now  they  are  at  sixty  or 
seventy  years  of  age  as  appreciative  of  all  innocent  mirth  as 
they  ever  were,  but  they  are  bent  on  a  style  of  satisfaction 
which,  in  early  life,  they  never  hunted;  the  evening  of  their 
days  brighter  than  the  morning. 

Then  there  are  others  who  started  out  for  financial  suc- 
cess. They  see  how  limber  the  rim  of  a  man's  hat  is  when 
he  bows  down  before  some  one  transpicuous.  They  felt  they 
would  like  to  see  how  the  world  looked  from  the  window  of 
a  three  thousand  dollar  turn-out.  They  thought  they  would 
like  to  have  the  morning  sunlight  tangled  in  the  head-gear 
of  a  dashing  span.  The  wanted  the  bridges  in  the  Park  to 
resound  under  the  rataplan  of  their  swift  hoofs.  They 
wanted  a  gilded  baldrick,  and  so  they  started  on  the  dollar 
hunt.  They  chased  it  up  one  street  and  chased  it  down 
another.  They  followed  it  when  it  burrowed  in  the  cellar. 
They  treed  it  in  the  roof.  Wherever  a  dollar  was  expected  to 
be,  they  were.  They  chased  it  across  the  ocean.  They 
chased  it  across  the  land.  They  stopped  not  for  the  night. 
Hearing  that  dollar  even  in  the  darkness  thrilled  them  as  an 
Adirondack  sportsman  is  thrilled  at  midnight  by  a  loon's 
laugh.  They  chased  that  dollar  to  the  money-vault.  They 
chased  it  to  the  government  treasury.  They  routed  it  from 
under  the  counter.  All  the  hounds  were  out — all  the  pointers 
and  the  setters.  They  leaped  the  hedges  for  that  dollar,  and 
they  cried:  "Hark  away!  a  dollar!  a  dollar!"  And  when  at 
last  they  came  upon  it  and  had  actually  captured  it,  their 
excitement  was  like  that  of  a  falconer  who  has  successfully 
flung  his  first  hawk.  In  the  morning  of  their  life,  0,  how 
they  devoured  the  prey!  But  there  came  a  better  time  to 
their  soul.    They  found  out  that  an  immortal  nature  cannot 


428 


SPOILS. 


live  on  "greenbacks."  They  took  up  a  Northern  Pacific 
bond,  and  there  was  a  hole  in  it  through  which  they  could 
look  into  the  uncertainty  of  all  earthly  treasures.  •  They  saw 
some  Ealston,  living  at  the  rate  of  twenty-five  thousand 
dollars  a  month,  leaping  from  San  Francisco  wharf  because 
he  could  not  continue  to  live  at  the  same  ratio.  They  saw 
the  wizzen  and  paralytic  bankers  who  had  changed  their  souls 
into  molten  gold  stamped  with  the  image  of  the  earth,  earthly. 
They  saw  some  great  souls  by  avarice  turned  into  homunculi, 
and  they  said  to  themselves:  "I  will  seek  after  higher 
treasure."  Prom  that  time  they  did  not  care  whether  they 
walked  or  rode,  if  Christ  walked  with  them;  nor  whether 
they  lived  in  a  mansion  or  in  a  hut,  if  they  dwelt  under  the 
shadow  of  the  Almighty;  nor  whether  they  were  robed  in 
French  broadcloth  or  in  homespun,  if  they  had  the  robe  of 
the  Saviour's  righteousness;  nor  whether  they  were  sandaled 
with  morrocco  or  calf-skin,  if  they  were  shod  with  the  pre- 
paration of  the  gospel.  Now  you  see  peace  on  their  coun- 
tenance. Now  that  man  says:  "What  a  fool  I  was  to  be 
enchanted  with  this  world.  Why,  I  have  more  satisfaction 
in  five  minutes  in  the  service  of  God  than  I  had  in  all  the 
first  years  of  my  life  while  I  was  gain  getting.  I  like  this 
evening  of  my  day  a  great  deal  better  than  I  did  the  morn- 
ing. In  the  morning  I  greedily  devoured  the  prey;  but  now 
it  is  evening,  and  I  am  gloriously  dividing  the  spoil." 

My  readers,  this  world  is  a  poor  thing  to  hunt.  It  is 
healthful  to  go  out  in  the  woods  and  hunt.  It  rekindles  the 
lustre  of  the  eye.  It  strikes  the  brown  of  the  autumnal  leaf 
into  the  cheek.  It  gives  to  the  rheumatic  limbs  a  strength 
to  leap  like  the  roe.  Christopher  North's  pet  gun,  the 
Muckle-moued-Meg,  going  off  in  the  summer  in  the  forests, 
had  its  echo  in  the  winter-time  in  the  eloquence  that  rang 
through  the  university  halls  of  Edinburgh.  It  is  healthy  to 
go  hunting  in  the  fields ;  but  I  tell  you  that  it  is  belittling 
and  bedwarfing  and  belaming  for  a  man  to  hunt  this  world. 


SPOILS. 


429 


The  hammer  comes  down  on  the  gun-cap,  and  the  barrel 
explodes  and  kills  you,  instead  of  that  which  you  are  pursu- 
ing. When  you  turn  out  to  hunt  the  world,  the  world  turns 
out  to   hunt  you;    and  as 


many  a  sportsman  aiming 
his  gun  at  a  panther's  heart 
has  gone  down  under  the 
striped  claws,  so,  while  you 
have  been  attempting  to  de- 
vour this  world,  the  world) 
has  been  devouring  you.  So 
it  was  with  Lord  Byron.  So 
it  was  with  Coleridge.  So  it 
was  with  Catherine  of  Bus- 
sia.  Henry  II.  went  out  hunt- 
ing for  this  world,  and  its 
lances  struck  through  his  heart.  Francis  I.  aimed  at  the 
world,  but  the  assassin's  dagger  put  an  end  to  his  ambition, 
and  his  life  with  one  stroke.    Mary,  Queen  of  Scots,  wrote 


LORD  BYP.ON. 


on  the  window  of  her  castle: 


"I 


MARY,  QUEEN  OF  SCOTS. 

believe  what    you  say. 


"From  the  top  of  all  my  trust 
Mishap  hath  laid  me  in  the 
dust." 

The  Queen  Dowager  of 
Navarre  was  offered  for  her 
wedding  day  a  costly  and 
beautiful  pair  of  gloves,  and 
she  put  them  on;  but  they 
were  poisoned  gloves,  and 
they  took  her  life.  Better  a 
bare  hand  of  cold  privation 
than  a  warm  and  poisoned 
glove  of  ruinous  success. 
"Oh,"  says  some  young  man, 
I  am  going  to  do  that  very 


430 


SPOILS. 


thing.  In  the  morning  of  my  life  I  am  going  to  devour  the 
prey,  and  in  the  evening  I  shall  divide  the  spoils  of  Christian 
character.  I  only  want  a  little  while  to  sow  my  wild  oats, 
and  then  I  will  be  good."  Young  man,  did  you  ever  take 
the  census  of  all  the  old  people?  How  many  old  people  are 
there  in  your  hous.e?  One,  two,  or  none?  How  many  in  a 
vast  assemblage?  Only  here  and  there  a  gray  head,  like  the 
patches  of  snow  here  and  there  in  the  fields  on  a  late  April 
day.  The  fact  is  that  the  tides  of  the  years  are  so  strong 
that  men  go  down  under  them  before  they  get  to  be  sixty, 
before  they  get  to  be  fifty,  before  they  get  to  be  forty,  before 
they  get  to  be  thirty;  and  if  you,  my  young  man,  resolve 
that  you  will  spend  the  morning  of  your  days  in  devouring 
the  prey,  the  probability  is  that  you  will  never  divide  the 
spoils  in  the  evening  hour.  He  who  postpones  until  old  age 
the  religion  of  Jesus  Christ,  postpones  it  forever.  Where 
are  the  men  who,  thirty  years  ago,  resolved  to  become  Chris- 
tians in  old  age,  putting  it  off  a  certain  number  of  years? 
They  are  in  the  lost  world.  They  never  got  to  be  old.  The 
railroad  collision,  or  the  steamboat  explosion,  or  the  slip  on 
the  ice,  or  the  falling  ladder,  or  the  sudden  cold  put  an  end 
to  their  opportunities.  They  have  never  had  an  opportunity 
since,  and  never  will  have  an  opportunity  again.  They 
locked  the  door  of  heaven  against  their  soul,  and  they  threw 
away  the  key;  and  if  they  could  break  jail  and  come  up 
shrieking  to  us,  I  do  not  think  they  would  take  two  minutes 
to  persuade  us  all  to  repentance.  They  chased  the  world, 
and  they  died  in  the  chase.  The  wounded  tiger  turned  on 
them.  They  failed  to  take  the  game  that  they  pursued. 
Mounted  on  a  swift  courser,  they  leaped  the  hedge,  but  the 
courser  fell  on  them  and  crushed  them.  Proposing  to  barter 
their  soul  for  the  world,  they  lost  both  and  got  neither. 

While  this  is  an  encouragement  to  old  people  who  are 
unpardoned,  it  is  no  encouragement  to  the  young  who  are 
putting  off  the  day  of  grace.    This  doctrine  that  the  old 


SPOILS. 


431 


may  be  repentant  is  to  be  taken  cautiously.  It  is  medicine 
that  kills  or  cures.  The  same  medicine,  given  to  different 
patients,  in  one  case  it  saves  life,  and  in  the  other  it  destroys 
it.  This  possibility  of  repentance  at  the  close  of  life  may 
cure  the  old  man  while  it  kills  the  young.  Be  cautious  in 
taking  it. 

There  are  those  who  come  to  a  sudden  and  a  radical 
change.  You  have  noticed  how  short  a  time  it  is  from  morn- 
ing to  night — only  seven  or  eight  hours.  You  know  that 
the  day  has  a  very  brief  life.  Its  heart  beats  twenty- four 
times,  and  then  it  is  dead.  How  quick  this  transition  in  the 
character  of  these  Benjaminites!  "In  the  morning  they 
shall  devour  the  prey,  and  at  night  they  shall  divide  the 
spoils."  Is  it  possible  that  there  shall  be  such  a  transforma- 
tion in  any  of  our  characters?  Yes,  a  man  may  be  at  seven 
o'clock  in  the  morning  an  all-devouring  worldling,  and  at 
seven  o'clock  at  night  he  may  be  a  peaceful,  distributive 
Christian.  Conversion  is  instantaneous.  A  man  passes 
into  the  kingdom  of  God  quicker  than  down  the  sky  runs 
ziz-zag  lightning.  A  man  may  be  anxious  about  his  soul 
for  a  great  many  years:  that  does  not  make  him  a  Christian. 
A  man  may  pray  a  great  while :  that  does  not  make  him  a 
Christian.  A  man  may  resolve  on  the  reformation  of  his 
character,  and  have  that  resolution  going  on  a  great  while: 
that  does  not  make  a  Christian.  But  the  very  instant  when 
he  flings  his  soul  on  the  mercy  of  Jesus  Christ,  that  instant 
is  lustration,  emancipation,  resurrection.  Up  to  that  point 
he  is  going  in  the  wrong  direction ;  after  that  point  he  is 
going  in  the  right  direction.  Before  that  moment  he  is  a 
child  of  sin;  after  that  moment  he  is  a  child  of  God. 
Before  that  moment  hellward;  after  that  moment  heaven- 
ward. Before  that  moment  devouring  the  prey;  after  that 
moment  dividing  the  spoil.  Five  minutes  is  as  good  as  five 
years.  My  reader,  you  know  very  well  that  the  best  things 
you  have  done  you  have  done  in  a  flash.    You  made  up  your 


432 


SPOILS. 


mind  in  an  instant  to  buy,  or  to  sell,  or  to  invest,  or  to  stop, 
or  to  start.  If  you  had  missed  that  one  chance,  you  would 
have  missed  it  forever.  Now  just  as  precipitate  and  quick 
and  spontaneous  will  be  the  ransom  of  your  soul.  This 
morning  you  were  making  a  calculation.  You  got  on  the 
track  of  some  financial  or  social  game.  With  your  pen  or 
pencil  you  were  pursuing  it.  This  very  morning  you  were 
devouring  the  prey;  but  to-night  you  are  in  a  different  mood. 
You  find  that  all  heaven  is  offered  you.  You  wonder  how 
you  can  get  it  for  yourself  and  for  your  family.  You  wonder 
what  resources  it  will  give  you  now  and  hereafter.  You  are 
dividing  peace  and  comfort  and  satisfaction  and  Christian 
reward  in  your  soul.    You  are  dividing  the  spoil. 

I  have  said  to  persons:  "When  did  you  first  become 
serious  about  your  soul?"  and  they  told  me:  " To-night. " 
And  to  others:  "When  did  you  give  your  heart  to  God?" 
and  they  said:  "To-night."  And  still  to  others:  "When 
did  you  resolve  to  serve  the  Lord  all  the  days  of  your  life?" 
and  they  said:  "To-night.,,  I  saw  by  the  gayety  of  their 
apparel  that  when  the  grace  of  God  struck  them  they  were 
devouring  the  prey;  but  I  saw  also,  in  the  flood  of  joyful 
tears,  and  in  the  kindling  raptures  on  their  brow,  and  in 
their  exhilarant  and  transporting  utterances,  that  they  were 
dividing  the  spoil.  If  you  have  seen  a  large  building  when 
the  lights  were  struck,  you  know  that  with  one  touch  of 
electricity  they  all  blazed.  0,  I  would  to  God  that  the  dark- 
ness of  your  souls  might  be  broken  up,  and  that  by  one 
quick,  overwhelming,  instantaneous  flash  of  illumination 
you  might  be  brought  into  the  light  and  the  liberty  of  the 
sons  of  God! 

You  see  that  religion  is  a  different  thing  from  what  some 
of  you  supposed.  You  thought  it  was  decadence;  you 
thought  religion  was  maceration ;  you  thought  it  was  high- 
way robbery;  that  it  struck  one  down  and  left  him  half 
dead ;  that  it  plucked  out  the  eyes ;  that  it  plucked  out  the 


SPOILS. 


433 


plumes  of  the  soul;  that  it  broke  the  wing  and  crushed  the 
beak  as  it  came  clawing  with  its  black  talons  through  the 
air.  No,  that  is  not  religion.  What  is  religion?  It  is  divi- 
ding the  spoils.  It  is  taking  a  defenceless  soul  and  panoply- 
ing it  for  eternal  conquest.  It  is  the  distribution  of  prizes 
by  the  king's  hand,  every  medal  stamped  with  a  coronation. 
It  is  an  exhilaration,  an  expansion.  It  is  imparadisation. 
It  is  enthronement.  Religion  makes  a  man  master  of  earth 
and  death  and  hell.  It  goes  forth  to  gather  the  medals  of 
victory  won  by  Prince  Emanuel,  and  the  diadems  of  heaven 
and  the  glories  of  realms  terrestrial  and  celestial,  and  then, 
after  ranging  all  worlds  for  everything  that  is  resplendent,  it 
divides  the  spoil. 

What  was  it  that  James  Turner,  the  famous  English 
evangelist,  was  doing  when  in  his  dying  moment  he  said : 
" Christ  is  all !  Christ  is  all?"  Why,  he  was  entering  into 
light;  he  was  rounding  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope;  he  was 
dividing  the  spoil.  What  was  the  aged  Christian  Quakeress 
doing  when  at  eighty  years  of  age  she  arose  in  the  meeting 
one  day  and  said :  "The  time  of  my  departure  is  come.  My 
grave  clothes  are  falling  off?"    She  was  dividing  the  spoil. 

What  is  Daniel  now  doing,  the  lion  tamer?  and  Elijah 
who  was  drawn  by  the  flaming  coursers?  and  Paul,  the  rat- 
tling of  whose  chains  made  kings  quake?  and  all  the  other 
victims  of  flood  and  fire  and  wreck  and  guillotine, — where 
are  they?    Dividing  the  spoil. 

"Ten  thousand  times  ten  thousand, 
i  In  sparkling  raiment  bright, 

The  armies  of  the  ransomed  saints 
Throng  up  the  steeps  of  light. 

"  'T  is  finished,  all  is  finished, 

Their  fight  with  death  and  sin. 
Fling  open-wide  the  golden  gates, 

And  let  the  victors  in." 


Oh,  what  a  grand  thing  it  is  to  be  a  Christian!  We 


434 


SPOILS. 


begin  now  to  divide  the  spoil,  but  the  distribution  will  not  be 
completed  to  all  eternity.  There  is  a  poverty- struck  soul, 
there  is  a  business- despoiled  soul,  there  is  a  sin- struck  soul, 
there  is  a  bereaved  soul, — why  do  you  not  come  and  get  the 
spoils  of  Christian  character,  the  comfort,  the  joy,  the  peace, 
the  salvation  that  I  offer  you  in  my  Master's  name?  Though 
your  knees  knock  together  in  weakness,  though  your  hand 
tremble  in  fear,  though  your  eyes  rain  tears  of  uncontrollable 
weeping — come  and  get  the  spoils.  Best  for  all  the  weary. 
Pardon  for  all  the  guilty.  Harbor  for  all  the  bestormed. 
Life  for  all  the  dead. 

Though  you  are  now  children  of  the  world,  you  may 
become  heirs  of  heaven.  Though  this  very  morning  you 
were  devouring  the  prey,  to-night,  all  worlds  witnessing,  you 
may  divide  the  spoil. 


CHAPTER  XXXIV. 


EXPULSION  OF  THE  BIBLE. 

Many  persons  are  willing  to  acknowledge  that  the  Bible 
is  a  lamp  fit  to  be  set  on  a  parlor  table,  or  in  a  nursery,  or  in 
a  drawing-room ;  but  they  do  not  want  to  hear  much  about 
the  Bible  as  a  lantern, — something  to  carry  about  with  you 
into  all  kinds  of  institutions,  and  into  all  kinds  of  circum- 
stances. Yet  I  do  not  know  why  a  lantern  should  disturb 
anything,  save  spiders  and  vermin  and  bats.  Send  it  every- 
where for  the  world's  illumination. 

But  is  this  Bible  such  a  wonderful  book?  Yes.  It  is  the 
Kohinoor  among  diamonds;  the  mightiest  power  ever  pro- 
jected by  the  hand  of  God  upon  the  nations.  It  is  a  well  so 
deep  that  innumerable  buckets  come  up  with  water  enough 
to  slake  the  thirst  of  all  nations.  It  is  like  a  nursery-man's 
garden,  where  the  flowers  and  the  fruits  and  the  trees  are  so 
closely  crowded  that  from  that  nursery  you  may  plant  a 
county  or  a  state.  One  seed  of  that  Word  of  God  was 
planted  a  good  many  years  ago,  and  it  came  up  in  the  Eefor- 
mation.  Another  seed  was  planted,  and  it  came  up  the 
blood -red  flower  of  the  American  Bevolution.  Another  seed 
of  the  Word  of  God  was  planted,  and  it  will  come  up  the 
white  flower  of  the  Millennium.  Mighty  book !  In  courts 
of  law,  when  the  oath  is  administered,  the.  witness  is  roughly 
told,  "Kiss  the  book;"  but  we  put  this  book  to  our  lips,  and 
give  it  the  kiss  of  earnest  affection,  and  say,  "Take  away  all 
other  books,  but  leave  us  this;  capture  all  other  weapons, 
but  leave  us  this  sword  with  which  to  conquer;  take  away 
all  other  friends,  but  leave  us  this  counsellor;  put  out  all 

(435) 


436 


EXPULSION  OF  THE  BIBLE. 


other  lights,  but  extinguish  not  this. "  Dear  old  book !  Some 
have  spit  upon  thee,  and  some  have  burned  thee,  and  some 
have  cast  upon  thee  the  lie ;  but  I  take  thee  to  be  my  counsel 
in  life,  my  joy  in  prosperity,  my  comfort  in  sorrow,  my  pillow 
in  death,  my  song  for  eternity.    Dear  old  Bible! 

There  are  many  who  would  like  to  crowd  this  Bible  out 
from  the  common  school,  and  they  would  like  to  crowd  it 
out  from  the  family,  and  they  would  like  to  crowd  it  oui  from 
all  respectable  associations,  and  they  would  like  to  crowd  it 
to  the  very  verge  of  the  world,  and  then  pick  it  up  and  fling 
it  into  the  blackness  of  darkness  forever.  Well,  this  book  is 
on  trial,  and  you  are  the  jurors.  Now,  prisoner,  look  upon 
the  jury,  and  jury,  look  upon  the  prisoner.  Is  this  book 
guilty  or  not  guilty?  Now  is  the  time  for  us  to  discuss  this 
question.  If  this  Bible  ought  to  be  put  out  of  the  common 
schools,  it  ought  to  be  put  out  immediately;  let  us  go  down 
to  the  schools,  and  pick  up  all  the  Old  Testaments'  and  the 
New  Testaments,  and  hurl  them  out  of  the  window,  and  look 
under  the  school  desk  lest  there  may  be  some  loose  leaves  of 
God's  holy  Word,  containing  the  story  of  a  Saviour's  sacrifice 
and  of  our  heavenly  inheritance ;  let  us  gather  them  all  up, 
and  not  only  throw  them  out  of  the  window,  but  let  us  burn 
them  up,  lest  by  some  evil  wind  they  be  blown  back  again 
into  the  school-house. 

But  if  the  Bible  ought  to  be  retained  in  the  common 
schools,  then  let  us  decide  in  that  direction.  If,  after  the 
Bible  be  banished,  the  Christian  Churches  rise  up  and  demand 
the  re-enfchronement  of  this  book  in  the  common-school 
system  of  this  country,  it  will  open  a  war  such  as  the  world 
has  never  seen.  On  the  one  side  all  the  forces  of  our  best 
civilization.  On  the  other  side  all  the  forces  of  iniquity  on 
earth  and  in  perdition.  If  you  have  anything  to  say  against 
the  expulsion  of  the  Bible  from  the  common  schools,  speak 
out.  As  a  minister  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and  as  an 
American  citizen,  I  want  to  be  heard.    I  have  been  warned 


EXPULSION  OF  THE  BIBLE. 


437 


again  and  again  that  if  I  opened  my  mouth  on  these  subjects 
it  would  be  disastrous  to  me,  have  been  threatened  with  all 
evil  if  I  kept  on  in  the  advocacy  of  the  cause  of  God  and 
good  morals ;  and  men  have  gone  so  far  they  have  once  fired 
my  house,  attempting  to  consume  my  family,  and  a  second 
time  made  the  attempt;  but  if  there  are  any  people  who  have 
an  idea  that  by  such  a  process  as  that  my  lips  shall  be  closed 
on  this  or  any  other  subject  involving  the  best  interests  of 
society,  they  are  much  mistaken. 

The  Bible  ought  to  be  kept  in  the  schools  because  if  you 
cast  it  out  you  decree  that  three-fourths  of  the  population  of 
this  country  shall  have  no  religious  culture  at  all.  You  tell 
me  that  the  Bible  ought  to  be  in  the  family  and  in  the 
Sabbath-school.  Even  so.  But  are  you  not  aware  that  a 
great  majority  of  the  children  in  this  country  never  see  the 
inside  of  a  Sabbath -school,  and  that  in  the  majority  of  the 
families  of  this  country  God  is  not  acknowledged  and  the 
Bible  is  not  read?  All  that  tens  of  thousands  of  children 
learn  of  God  and  Christ  and  the  judgment  day  and  the 
eternal  world  they  learn  in  the  three  or  four  minutes  at  the 
opening  of  the  day-school.  If  the  statistics  be  accurate  that 
this  country  is  yet  to  be  occupied  by  three  hundred  million 
immortals,  then  I  say  that  that  Christian  man  who  votes  for 
the  expulsion  of  the  Bible  from  the  schools  votes  for  the 
barring  out  from  all  the  blessings  and  the  excellencies  of  our 
holy  religion  two  hundred  million  of  the  people.  I  ask  if  it 
is  possible  to  maintain  a  Bepublic  of  self -governed,  honest, 
pure,  truthful  citizens  with  so  small  an  admixture  of  morals 
and  religion?  The  man  who  votes  to  put  out  the  Bible  from 
the  schools  votes  to  make  this  land  a  nation  of  atheists,  a 
nation  of  infidels,  a  nation  of  debauchees,  a  nation  of  out- 
laws. There  is  no  ground-work  for  thorough,  old-fashioned 
morals  but  the  Word  of  God. 

I  am  opposed  to  the  expulsion  of  the  Bible  from  the 
common  schools  because  such  a  movement  would  be  a  war 


438 


EXPULSION  OF  THE  BIBLE. 


upon  the  consciences  of  men.  The  Koman  Catholics,  in  this 
country,  have  no  objections  to  the  Bible  in  our  common 
schools.  What  they  propose  is  to  have  parochial  schools 
where  the  whole  system  of  Eoman  Catholicism  can  be  taught. 
Then  I  tell  you  that  when  you  put  out  the  Bible  from  the 
schools  you  wound  the  feelings  of  nine-tenths  of  the  Christian 
people  of  this  country.  When  you  drive  out  the  Bible  you 
please  the  infidels  and  atheists,  and  a  great  many  who  are 
loose  in  religion  and  loose  in  morals ;  but  you  wound  in  the 
very  depths  of  the  soul  thousands  and  hundreds  of  thousands 
of  Christian  men  and  women  who  have  builded  up  all  their 
hopes  for  time  and  eternity  on  that  old  book,  and  believe  it 
to  be  the  chief  corner-stone  of  this  nation's  prosperity.  You 
say  you  will  not  send  your  children  to  the  common  schools 
if  the  Bible  is  kept  there.  I  reply  I  will  not  send  my  children 
there  if  the  Bible  is  cast  out,  and  my  conscience  is  as  good 
as  your  conscience.  Here  is  a  hospital  with  a  great  many 
sick  men.  There  is  a  man  with  a  wounded  arm,  and  he 
refuses  to  have  any  bandage  on  it,  and  he  refuses  to  take  any 
medicine  of  the  surgeon.  Then  I  see  him  start  through  the 
wards  of  the  hospital,  and  what  is  he  doing?  He  is  tearing 
off  the  bandages  of  all  the  other  men,  and  upsetting  their 
medicine,  and  saying,  "I  don't  want  any  bandages  on  my 
arm,  and  you  shall  not  have  any  bandages  on  your  arm."  In 
other  words  these  men  say,  "We  don't  want  our  children 
cultured  in  the  knowledge  of  the  Bible,  and  you  shall  not 
have  your  children  cultured  in  the  knowledge  of  the  Bible." 
You  say,  "One  man's  conscience  is  as  good  as  another  man's 
conscience."  I  don't  believe  it.  Suppose  you  were  seeking 
a  confidential  clerk,  and  two  men  applied,  -  and  one  man 
began  by  saying,  "I  reject  the  Bible;  I  have  no  faith  in  it." 
Then  the  other  young  man  would  say,  "I  believe  in  the 
Bible ;  I  love  it  very  much ;  it  is  the  great  ambition  of  my 
life  to  make  my  character  correspond  with  the  teachings  of 
that  book."    Which  young  man  would  you  take  as  your  con- 


EXPULSION  OF  THE  BIBLE. 


439 


fidential  clerk?  Of  course  the  latter.  In  other  words,  you 
realize  that  the  conscience  of  the  one  man  is  better  than  the 
conscience  of  the  other.  I  have  no  faith  in  a  man's  morality 
who  says,  "I  despise  God's  Word;  I  cast  out  all  its  teachings ; 
I  will  have  nothing  to  do  with  it."  Would  I  trust  such  a 
man  in  any  relation  of  this  life?  No,  I  would  not  trust  him 
at  the  ferry-gates  with  the  feiry-master  looking  the  dfcher  way; 
he  would  run  through  without  paying  his  two  cents!  This 
proposition  to  put  the  Bible  out  of  the  schools  is  a  war  on 
three -fourths  of  the  Christian  people  of  this  country. 

I  am  opposed  to  this  movement  because  the  Bible  seems 
so  particularly  adapted  to  the  common  schools.  In  an  or- 
chestra, one  man  sweeps  the  bow  across  the  viol,  and  by  that 
one  instrument  the  other  musicians  chord  up  their  instru- 
ments to  concert  pitch.  So  this  thrumming  of  this  harp  of 
God's  Word  at  nine  o'clock,  in  the  day-school,  seems  to  bring 
into  harmonious  accord  all  the  other  lessons  and  employments 
of  the  day.  What  book  is  there  that  inculcates  such  lessons 
of  morality  and  kindness  and  love  and  gentleness  and  patience 
and  generosity  and  purity?  Show  me  one  man,  one  child, 
in  all  the  world  that  has  ever  been  injured  by  reading  it. 
We  want  to  have  our  children  go  down  into  the  stream  of 
God's  Word  and  pluck  the  lilies  from  the  banks  and  weave 
the  Rose  of  Sharon  in  their  hair.  But  remember  that  a 
great  multitude  of  the  children  that  come  up  to  the  public 
schools  have  no  kind  influences  at  home.  Some  are  orphans, 
and  some  worse  than  orphans,  for  they  have  dissolute  parents. 
How  pleasant  and  beautiful  and  appropriate  it  is  that  the 
teacher  should  open  the  old  Book  and  read  to  them:  "Come 
unto  Me,  all  ye  who  are  weary  and  heavy  laden,  and  I  will 
give  you  rest."  "As  one  whom  his  mother  comforteth,  so 
will  I  comfort  you." 

What  other  book  has  so  inuch  simplicity,  so  much  ele- 
gance, so  much  earnestness  of  style?  It  is  a  better  discipline 
than  mathematics.    It  is  better  history  than  Bancroft^  *f; 


440 


EXPULSION   OF  THE  BIBLE. 


is  better  philosophy  than  Dougall  Stewart's.  It  is  a  better 
biography  than  Plutarch's.  All  the  poems  of  earth  strike 
their  chime  into  this  canto,  and  the  beauties  of  the  universe 
blossom  in  this  royal  flower,  and  the  charm  of  river  and  lake 
and  sea  are  hung  in  this  one  crystal.  I  went  to  one  of  our 
public  schools.  I  heard  the  Scriptures  read,  and  I  heard 
them  sing  a  song,  and  I  thought  to  myself,  after  these  five 
minutes  of  interview  with  God,  all  the  hours  of  this  day 
must  be  beneficently  affected.  There  will  be  thousands  of 
children  gathered  in  our  day-schools,  and  they  will  read  of 
peace  for  all  the  troubled,  pardon  for  all  the  guilty,  and  life 
for  all  the  dead.  Now,  you  who  want  the  Bible  out  of  the 
schools,  go  in,  and  hush  up  those  exercises.  Say,  "Stop  that 
music!  Quit  that  reading!  Down  with  the  Bible  in  the 
common  schools!" 

Such  expulsion  implies  the  right  to  take  away  any  book 
that  acknowledges  God  or  Christian  principle.  Is  there  a 
primer,  is  there  a  reader,  is  there  a  text- book  in  all  our  day- 
schools  that  somehow  does  not  acknowledge  the  sanctity  of 
the  marriage  relation,  or  the  holiness  of  the  Sabbath,  or  the 
importance  of  divine  worship,  or  the  existence  of  God? 
Now,  drive  the  Bible  out  of  the  schools,  and  what  is  the  next 
demand?  Take  away  that  primer.  Take  away  that  reader. 
How  dare  you  use  in  your  schools  a  reader  which  acknowl- 
edges the  sanctity  of  the  marriage  relation,  when  there  are 
tens  of  thousands  of  people  who  do  not  believe  that  there  is 
any  such  sanctity?  How  dare  you  have  that  reader  in  your 
schools  which  admits  that  there  is  any  holiness  in  the  Sab- 
bath, when  there  are  thousands  of  people  who  deny  it?  How 
dare  you  have  a  text-book  of  any  kind  in  your  schools  which 
has  in  it  the  word  God  spelled  with  a  capital  "G,"  when 
there  are  thousands  of  people  in  this  country  who  do  not 
believe  there  is  any  God?  Yield  to  this  impertinent  demand 
for  Uie  exvulsion  of  the  Bible  from  the  schools,  and  they  will 
co**«*3  w  Ai  okier  infamous  demands.    It  is  the  first  step  of  a 


EXPULSION  OF  THE  BIBLE. 


441 


long  series  of  steps.  Suppose  you  are  on  a  highway,  and  a 
robber  meets  you,  and  he  says,  "Your  watch."  You  give 
him  your  watch.  "Now,"  he  says,  "I'll  take  your  pocket- 
book.  "  You  hand  it  to  him.  "Now,"  he  says,  "I'll  take  your 
penknife."  You  give  it  to  him.  "Now,"  he  says,  "I'll  take 
your  coat."  You  give  him  your  coat.  He  strips  you  and 
pounds  you  and  leaves  you  half  dead  by  the  road-side. 
When  was  the  time  to  make  resistance?  At  the  very  start. 
People  come  up,  and  they  say,  "Take  the  Bible  out  of  the 
schools."  Suppose  we  give  it  up?  Then  they  will  say, 
"Take  this  book  and  that  book  and  the  other  book;  throw 
them  all  out,"  until  they  leave  the  common  school  system 
stripped  and  half  dead,  not  garments  enough  left  to  cover  the 
nakedness  of  its  folly.  When  is  the  time  to  resist  such  a 
demand?  At  the  start;  and  not  yielding  once  you  will  not 
have  to  yield  afterward.  The  implication  that  these  men 
have  a  right  to  take  the  Bible  out  of  the  common  schools 
implies  that  they  have  a  right  to  take  out  any  book  which 
inculcates  moral  and  religious  sentiments. 

This  movement  throws  suspicion  on  the  Bible  itself. 
What  books  are  you  going  to  have  in  your  common  schools  ? 
Webster's  Dictionary?  Yes. 
Kame's  Elements  of  Criti- 
cism? Yes.  Young's  Night 
Thoughts  to  parse  out  of? 
Yes.  Or  the  Poems  of  Tenny- 
son, or  the  writings  of 
Carlyle?  Yes.  Then  when 
you  say  you  do  not  want  the 
Bible,  do  you  not  give  the 
preference  to  every  other 
book,  and  are  you  not  saying 
to  the  rising  generation, 
"These  other  books  are  safe, 
but  the  Bible  is  not  safe?"  If  your  child  be  consulting  in  regard 


THOMAS  CARLYLE. 


442 


"PULSION  OF  THE  BIBLE. 


to  the  companionship  of  ten  or  fifteen  playmates  in  the  street, 
and  you  say,  "You  may  play  with  this  child,  and  that,  and 
that,  and  that;  but  not  with  that  one,"  do  you  not  throw 
suspicion  upon  the  character  of  this  last  child?  If  we  come 
into  our  common  school  system  and  say,  "You  may  have  all 
these  other  books,  but  not  the  Bible,"  is  not  that  saying 
to  all  the  boys  and  girls  of  this  country,  "The  most  unsafe 
book  to  have  is  the  Bible?"  In  that  way  you  give  judgment 
against  the  sacred  Scriptures  in  the  mind  of  all  the  young 
people  of  the  country? 

We  oppose  the  ejection  of  the  Bible  from  the  common 
schools  because  the  evidence  of  the  best  men  of  this  country 
oppose  such  expulsion.  What  did  George  Washington  say 
in  his  * 'Farewell  Address?"  "Let  us  with  caution  indulge 
the  supposition  that  morality  can  be  maintained  without 
religion.  Whatever  may  be  conceded  to  the  influence  of 
refined  education  on  minds  of  peculiar  structure,  reason  and 
experience  both  forbid  us  to  expect  that  national  morality  can 
prevail  in  exclusion  of  religious  principles."  Daniel  Webster 
says:  "It  has  been  held  as  a  fundamental  truth  that  religion 
is  the  only  solid  basis  of  morals,  and  that  moral  instruction 
not  resting  upon  this  basis  is  only  building  upon  sand.  It  is 
a  mockery  and  an  insult  to  common  sense  to  maintain  that  a 
school  for  the  instruction  of  youth,  from  which  Christian 
instruction  is  shut  out,  is  not  atheistical  and  infidel." 

I  would  a  great  deal  rather  have  my  sentiments  in  sym- 
pathy with  the  sentiments  of  these  men  of  the  past  than  to  have 
them  in  sympathy  with  many  of  the  modern  base  politicians. 
There  is  a  wide  distinction  between  a  Christian  patriot, — a 
politician  like  Theodore  Frelinghuysen  or  Governor  Briggs  of 
the  past, — men  who  were  as  eminent  in  the  Church  of  Christ 
as  in  political  circles, — and  the  base  politicians.  I  think  the 
highest  style  of  a  man  is  the  consecrated  Christian  patriot. 
But  alas !  for  that  filthy  herd  which  tramp  through  many  of 
our  cities,  calling  themselves  politicians.    Base  and  low  in 


EXPULSION  OF  THE  BIBLE. 


443 


all  their  morals;  degraded  until  there  is  no  lower  depth  of 
degradation  into  which  they  can  sink;  born  in  the  cesspool 
of  political  caucus ;  cursed  to  crawl  on  their  belly  through 
the  slush  and  slime  of  partisanship;  demanding  the  thrust- 
ing out  of  the  Bible  to  please  the  foreign  vote;  anxious  to 
lick  the  filthy  heel  of  the  emigrant  before  he  has  had  time 
to  wash  his  feet.  I  abhor  them.  The  pure  politicians  of 
this  and  past  times  have  declared  themselves  in  favor  of  the 
retention  of  the  Bible  in  the  schools. 

It  is  a  supreme  book  from  the  hands  of  a  Supreme  God, 
and  has  a  right  to  go  anywhere.  Suppose  a  proclamation 
should  be  made  by  the  President  of  the  United  States,  and 
some  of  us  should  gather  a  regiment,  and  say,  4 'You  may 
send  that  proclamation  wherever  else  you  like,  but  don't  send 
it  here."  A  few  officers  of  the  Government  would  come  out 
and  put  an  end  to  that  rebellion.  Suppose  we  crossed  the 
sea  and  fenced  off  a  part  of  Great  Britain,  and  should  say, 
"We  are  very  willing  that  Queen  Victoria  shall  reign  over  all 
Great  Britain  save  these  few  acres,  which  we  mean  to  keep 
ourselves,"  A  few  officers  would  come  forth  and  put  an  end 
to  that  rebellion.  Now,  this  proposition  to  put  the  Bible  out 
of  the  common  schools  is  rebellion  against  the  throne  of 
God  and  secession  from  the  divine  government.  This  book 
is  a  proclamation  from  the  throne  of  God,  and  who  has  a 
right  to  stand  in  the  way  of  it?  It  is  crying  out  in  the  face 
of  high  heaven,  "  0  Lord,  go  anywhere  with  Thy  book,  but 
keep  out  of  our  common  schools."  The  Bible  being  a  su- 
preme book  from  the  hand  of  a  Supreme  God,  has  a  right  .to 
go  anywhere. 

I  still  further  am  opposed  to  the  expulsion  of  the  Bible 
from  the  common  schools,  because  the  common  school  is  a 
child  of  Protestantism,  and  she  has  a  right  to  do  what  she 
will  with  her  own.  The  Catholics  of  this  country  will  tell 
you  what  I  am  telling  you  now.  Go  through  Spain  and  France 
and  Italy  and  show  me  a  common  school.    You  cannot  find 


444 


EXPULSION  OF  THE  BIBLE. 


one.  The  genius  of  the  Catholic  Church  is  against  the  indis- 
criminate education  of  the  common  people,  and  of  course  as 
they  propose  to  go  off  into  their  parochial  schools,  and 
gradually  and  peacefully  withdraw,  they  do  not  now  propose 
that  we  shall  make  any  radical  change  to  please  them.  They 
plainly  tell  us  so.  Suppose  I  come  into  your  house  and  say, 
" I  don't  like  the  way  you  dress  your  child."  "Well,"  you 
would  say,  "that  is  a  curious  criticism.  I  didn't  ask  you 
whether  you  were  pleased  or  not."  "Well,"  I  say,  "you 
must  take  that  chain  of  gold  off  your  child's  neck,  or  I'll 
leave  the  house."  Then  you  would  say,  "Leave."  Now,  the 
common -school  system  is  a  child  of  Protestantism.  If  any 
class  of  men  shall  come  from  any  land,  or  from  any  form  of 
religious  belief,  and  say,  "We  don't  like  that  chain  of  gold, 
the  Word  of  God,  around  the  neck  of  your  common- school 
system,"  then  we  will  say,  "Well,  then,  you  will  have  to  go 
where  you  like  it  better."  But  you  say,  "That  will  involve 
the  question  of  taxation,  and  there  will  be  a  demand  for 
appropriations  of  money  for  Presbyterian  schools,  and  then 
they  will  want  appropriations  made  for  Koman  Catholic 
schools,  and  this  whole  question  of  taxation  will  become  in- 
volved, and  disastrously  so.  I  reply,  without  discussing  that 
question,  that  better  for  us  that  all  the  school  funds  go  away 
from  us,  and  that  our  common  schools  be  supported  by  the 
charities  of  the  Christian  Church,  than  that  the  Bible  be  cast 
out  of  the  schools. 

I  go  further,  and  oppose  this  movement  because  the  God 
of  the  Bible  has  had  this  land  under  His  benediction,  and 
He  intends  it  to  be  a  Bible-reading  and  God-fearing  nation. 
He  has  plainly  drawn  a  mark  all  around  this  nation,  and 
said,  in  His  Providence,  "Wherever  else  they  do  not  have  the 
Bible,  you  shall  have  it  here.  Wherever  else  God  is  not 
honored,  you  shall  honor  Him  here. "  Look  at  the  history  of 
our  nation.  Do  you  notice  at  what  point  in  the  world's  his- 
tory America  was  discovered?    Why  was  not  this  land 


EXPULSION  OF  THE  BIBLE. 


445 


discovered  ages  before?  Civilized  men  would  very  much  have 
liked  to  look  upon  it.    There  were  adventurers  who  would 
have  liked  to  have  picked  out  this  gem  of  the  sea  long  before 
the  time  of  Columbus  and  Vespucius.    Ah !  it  was  because 
the  right  kind  of  men  to  people  this  land  had  not  been.born. 
The  fires  in  which  they  were  to  be  purified  were  not  yet 
kindled.    When  God  had  created  a  stalwart  race,  and  ordained 
them  for  the  high  work  of  settling  this  country,  and  laying 
the  foundation  of  a  higher  style  of  civilization  than  the 
world  had  ever  known,  and  they  had  started  out  on  their 
embassy  of  light  and  freedom  and  religion,  then  God  sud- 
denly dropped  the  veil  from 
this   continent,    and  there 
arose  before  the  astonished 
vision    of    the    people  the 
splendors   of    this  Western 
world.    Then  come  on  down 
from  the  discovery  of  Amer- 
ica to  the  Eevolutionary  war. 
God  was  as  certainly  in  the* 
lives    of    Washington  and 
Lafayette   and    Marion  and 
Kosciusco  as  He  was  in  the 
lives  of   Moses  and  Daniel 
and  Joshua.     God  was  no 
more  present    at  Megiddo 
and  Jericho  than   at  White 
Plains  and  Valley  Forge, 
further  in  our  history  until 
her. 


LAFAYETTE. 


Then  come  on  down  still 
the  days  which  you  rem  em - 
The  great  question  North,  South,  East  and  West 
was,  "How  shall  we  get  rid  of  American  slavery?"  Some 
proposed  one  thing  and  others  another.  Some  men  said, 
"Steal  the  slave."  That  did  not  do.  Some  said,  "Try 
moral  suasion."  That  did  not  do.  Some  said,  "Buy  the 
bondmen  out  of  their  serfdom."    That  would  not  do.  The 


446 


EXPULSION   OF  THE  ^IBLB. 


more  the  question  was  discussed  the  less  it  came  to  an  intel- 
ligent decision ;  when  the  Lord  rose  up  and  said,  "09  you 
men  of  the  North  and  the  South,  you  cannot  settle  that  ques- 
tion. I  will  settle  it.  This  is  my  nation.  You  want  that 
cancer  of  slavery  cut  out  and  it  shall  be  done."  And  then 
putting  the  sword  of  battle  on  one  side  of  that  black  cancer, 
and  the  sword  of  battle  on  the  othex  side  of  that  black  cancer, 
it  dropped  black  and  bleeding  into  hell.  God  has  been  with 
us  all  along,  doing  for  us  what  the  statesmen  of  the  North 
and  South  could  not  achieve. 

The  Hollanders  and  the  Puritans  and  the  Huguenots  were 
men  of  the  Bible,  and  they  took  possession  of  the  land  in  the 
name  of  the  God  of  the  Bible.  Now  suppose  I  come  into 
your  house  and  say4  "I  don't  like  that  book  on  your  table." 
Suppose  I  come  and  sit  at  your  banquet  and  say,  "I  don't 
like  this  article  of  food  you  set  before  me."    You  do  not  ask 

to  stay  in  the  presence  of  the  book  or  the  banquet.  And 
I  am  in  favor  of  the  largest  liberty  for  any  man  who  wants 
to  withdraw  from  house  or  table  or  the  eommon  schools.  Go 
to  China  or\Endia  or  some  other  place  where  they  have  no 
Bible.  Go  there;  do  not  stand  here,  and  with  impertinent 
demand  ask  that  we  give  up  this  glorious  treasure  which  is 
the  chief  pride  of  our  common  schools. 

Secular  education  without  religious  education  is  worse 
than  rj»on»e.  The  President  of  the  United  States  sent  to 
Congress  a  paragraph  in  his  Message  which  most  of  us  ap- 
prove, and  that  is  that  there  ought  to  be  some  education  be- 
fore people  are  allowed  to  vote,  and  yet  what  does  the  capacity 
of  a  man  to  read  amount  to  if  he  read  bad  books?  What  does 
a  man's  capacity  to  write  amount  to  if  he  writes  bad  senti- 
ments. Better  not  be  able  to  read  or  write  at  all.  Knowl- 
edge is  power  for  good  if  sanctified.  Knowledge  is  power 
for  evil  if  unsanctified.  Bobespierre  and  Bousseau  and 
Byron  were  illustrations  of  what  men  with  magnificent  mental 
endowments  will  do  when  they  have  no  moral  restraint. 


EXPULSION  OF  THE  BIBLE. 


447 


Those  men  might  better  have  been  born  and  lived  and  died 
on  the  lowest  round  of  ignorance  than  to  have  risen  and 
cursed  the  world  with  their  cruelties  and  nastiness.  The 
youth  of  this  country  need  something 
besides  reading  and  writing  and  arith- 
metic, in  order  that  they  may  be  pre- 
pared for  good  citizenship.  The  great 
pest  of  this  country  to-day  is  the 
educated  villains.  They  know  enough. 
They  know  too  much.  They  know 
everything. 

There  is  no  machine  more  useful 
than  a  locomotive.  Here  I  see  one 
standing.  Piston-rods,  cranks,  axles, 
cylinders,  driving-wheels,  throttle- 
valve,  all  perfect.  A  good  engineer  BOBEspierre. 
g$ts  on  that  locomotive,  fastens  it  to  a  long  train  of  cars, 
drags  an  immense  value  of  freightage  or  life  across  the  con- 
tinent. He  does  well.  A  reckless  engineer  comes  up  to  that 
same  locomotive,  gets  on  it,  and  puts  it  at  the  rate  of  fifty 
miles  an  hour;  comes  near  a  dangerous  curve,  leaps  off, 
while  the  train  goes  on  into  shrieking  and  death.  That  is 
just  the  difference  between  educated  mind  without  moral 
principle,  and  educated  mind  with  moral  principle.  In  either 
case  it  is  a  powerful  engine.  In  the  one  case  it  drags  a  long 
line  of  good  influences  across  the  earth.  In  the  other  case 
Christian  principle  jumps  off  and  moral  restraint  jumps  off, 
leaving  the  train  to  go  into  terrific  demolition.  Ignorance  is 
bad,  but  intelligence  is  worse,  if  immoral.  Almost  everybody 
talks  about  the  days  of  Greece  and  Eome.  They  had  so 
much  intelligence,  so  many  orators  and  painters,  and  poets 
and  thinkers.  No  doubt  about  it.  But  how  about  the  morals 
of  Greece  and  Eome?  Why  is  it  that  when  a  gentleman  is 
traveling  with  his  family  in  Europe,  and  he  comes  to  the 
museums  containing  the  relics  of  ancient  art,  that  the  janitor 


448 


EXPULSION  OF  THE  BIBLE. 


taps  him  on  the  shoulder  and  says,  "Only  gentlemen  will  pass 
in  there."  Why?  It  is  because  the  paintings  and  the  sculp- 
ture of  ancient  Greece  and  Rome  were  abhorrent  to  all  decency, 
and  splendid  Corinth  and  magnificent  Pompeii  were  worse 
than  the  Five  Points  in  the  worst  days  of  the  Five  Points. 
Intelligence,  art,  eloquence,  without  the  Christian  religion,  is 
defamation,  ruin,  disaster,  woe. 

Protestants,  the  reason  discussion  of  this  subject  ends  in 
nothing  in  most  cases  is  because  we  mix  it  up  with  the 
Roman  Catholics.  They  are  not  opposed  to  the  Bible  in  the 
schools.  Why  then  bring  them  into  the  consideration? 
What  do  you  make  in  the  discussion  of  this  subject  by  rous- 
ing the  ire  of  the  Roman  Catholics?  What  has  all  the 
persecution  against  that  Church  in  this  country  accomplished? 
They  have  four  thousand  churches;  they  have  over  fifty 
theological  seminaries;  they  have  over  thirty  colleges;  they 
have  over  four  million  members.  "O!"  says  some  person, 
"we  shall  have  the  auto-da-fe  and  the  Inquisition  in  this 
country."  I  do  not  believe  it.  My  confidence  is  in  the  Lord 
God  Almighty,  and  in  the  moral  education  of  the  people. 
Let  us  stick  to  that,  and  not  in  any  wise  go  around  and  dis- 
cuss questions  that  are  irrelevant.  Friends  of  the  Bible, 
wake  up !  You  are  letting  this  question  go  by  default.  Some 
of  the  religious  newspapers  have  gone  over  to  the  other  side, 
and  there  are  a  great  many  ministers  who  are  weak-kneed  on 
this  subject.  Friends  of  God,  speak  out  for  King  James's 
translation.  If  you  love  your  Bible,  stand  by  it.  It  is  not 
much  you  have  to  do  in  this  country  for  the  maintenance 
of  your  religious  faith.  "0!"  says  some  man,  "you  are  all 
behind  the  time.  We  are  in  favor  of  progress.  The  Bible 
used  to  do  very  well  in  the  schools,  but  we  have  progressed 
now  beyond  that."  Yes,  I  am  in  favor  of  progress,  but  I  do 
not  believe  in  progress  over  a  precipice.  I  say,  let  every 
other  book  go  out  of  the  common  schools  rather  than  this 
book.    Let  your  arithmetics  go.    Our  children  can  get  along 


EXPULSION  OF  THE  BIBLE. 


449 


better  without  knowing  how  to  count  their  earthly  treasures 
than  without  this  heavenly  arithmetic  v.hich  presents  the 
figures  of  an  eternal  inheritance.  Let  your  geographies  go. 
Our  children  can  get  along  without  knowing  the  face  of  the 
earth  rather  than  not  knowing  about  the  hills  of  light  and 
the  mountains  of  joy  and  the  seas  of  glory  that  await  the 
redeemed  spirit.  Let  all  the.  books  on  botany  go.  Our 
children  can  get  along  without  knowing  the  nature  of  the 
plants  and  flowers  of  the  earth  better  than  to  be  ignorant  of 
the  eternal  springtime  of  heaven.  Let  the  public  school 
teachers  open  the  Bible  with  unusual  earnestness.  Eead  the 
chapters  that  you  can  find  most  adapted  to  the  youthful  mind. 
Then  join  in  prayer  before  God,  and  while  the  hands  of  sin 
and  superstition  are  trying  to  pull  down  this  Bible  out  of 
the  common  schools,  and  pull  it  down  from  other  places,  lift 
it  high  in  the  estimation  of  the  children  under  your  charge, 
and  say,  "0,  how  I  love  Thy  law.  It  is  my  meditation  all 
the  day." 

I  want  you  to  set  me  down  as  the  sworn  and  uncom- 
promising friend  of  that  dear  old  book.  I  should  feel  myself 
unworthy  my  ancestors,  the  Puritans  and  the  Hollanders, 
many  of  whom  died  for  their  faith,  yea,  I  should  expect  to  be 
found  friendless  at  the  judgment  seat  of  Christ  if  in  the  hour, 
when  the  Bible  is  on  trial,  I  should  prove  recreant.  It  will  be 
a  sweet  consolation  when  we  come  to  die,  if  we  can  feel  then 
that  we  never  did  one  thing  to  injure  the  influence  of  that 
old  book.  That  dying  hour  may  be  a  time  of  poverty  and 
cruelty  to  us,  and  the  pillow  may  be  jerked  out  from  under 
our  head.  But  that  man  sleeps  well  the  last  sleep  who  has 
this  book  for  his  pillow.  Blessed  be  the  Lord  God  of  Israel, 
from  everlasting  to  everlasting,  and  let  the  whole  earth  be 
filled  with  His  glory.    Amen,  and  amen! 


CHAPTEE  XXXY. 


"what  of  our  children ?" 

Judah,  when  describing  the  tenderness  and  affection  which 
Jacob  felt  toward  Benjamin,  the  youngest  son  of  that  patri- 
archal family,  said:  "His  life  is  bound  up  in  the  lad's  life,'' 
but  they  are  words  just  as  appropriate  to  many  another 
parent.  I  have  known  parents  that  seemed  to  have  but  little 
interest  in  their  children.  A  father  says :  "My  son  must  look 
out  for  himself.  If  he  comes  up  well,  all  right;  if  he  turns 
out  badly,  I  cannot  help  it.  I  am  not  responsible  for  his 
behavior.  He  must  take  the  same  risk  in  life  that  I  took." 
As  well  might  the  shepherd  throw  a  lamb  into  a  den  of  lions, 
and  then  say:  "Little  lamb,  look  out  for  yourself." 

It  is  generally  the  case  that  even  the  beast  looks  after  its 
young.  I  have  gone  through  the  woods  on  a  summer's  day, 
and  I  have  heard  a  great  outcry  in  a  bird's  nest,  and  I  have 
climbed  up  to  see  what  was  the  matter.  I  found  out  that  the 
birds  were  starving  and  that  the  mother  bird  had  gone  off, 
not  to  come  back  again.  But  that  is  an  exception.  It  is 
generally  the  case  that  the  old  bird  will  pick  your  eyes  out 
rather  than  let  you  come  nigh  its  brood.  The  lion  will  rend 
you  in  tv^ain  if  you  approach  too  nearly  the  whelps;  the  fowl 
in  the  barn-yard,  clumsy-footed  and  heavy- winged,  flies 
fiercely  at  you  if  you  come  too  near  the  little  group,  and  God 
intended  every  father  and  mother  to  be  the  protection  and  the 
help  of  the  child.  Jesus  comes  into  every  dwelling  and  says 
to  the  father  or  mother:  "You  have  been  looking  after  this 
child's  body  and  mind;  the  time  has  come  when  you  ought 
io  be  looking  after  its  immortal  soul."    "What  is  to  become 

(450) 


CHILDHOOD. 


"what  of  our  children?" 


453 


of  the  child?  What  will  be  its  history?  Will  it  choose 
paths  of  virtue  or  vice?  Will  it  accept  Christ  or  reject  him? 
Where  will  it  spend  eternity?" 

I  read  of  a  vessel  that  foundered.  The  boats  were 
launched;  many  of  the  passengers  were  struggling  in  the 
water.  A  mother  with  one  hand  beat  the  waves,  and  with 
the  other  hand  lifted  up  her  little  child  toward  the  life-boat 
crying:  " Save  my  child!  Save  my  child!"  The  impassioned 
outcry  of  that  mother  is  the  prayer  of  many  hundreds  of 
Christian  people. 

The  first  cause  of  parental  anxiety  is  the  inefficiency  and 
imperfection  of  parents  themselves.  We  have  a  slight  hope, 
all  of  us,  that  our  children  may  escape  our  faults.  We  hide 
our  imperfections,  and  think  they  will  steer  clear  of  them. 
Alas,  there  is  a  poor  prospect  of  that.  There  is  more  proba- 
bility that  they  will  choose  our  vices  than  choose  our  virtues. 
There  is  something  like  sacredness  in  parental  imperfections 
when  the  child  looks  upon  them.  The  folly  of  the  parents 
is  not  so  repulsive  when  the  child  looks  at  it.  He  says: 
"Father  indulges  in  it;  mother  indulges  in  it;  it  can't  be  so 
bad."  Your  boy,  ten  years  of  age,  goes  up  aback  street 
smoking  his  cigar — an  old  stump  that  he  found  in  the  street — 
and  a  neighbor  accosts  him  and  says:  "What  are  you  doing 
this  for?  What  would  your  father  say  if  he  knew  it?"  The 
boy  says:  "0,  father  does  that  himself!"  There  is  not  one 
that  would  deliberately  choose  that  his  children  should,  in  all 
things,  follow  his  example,  and  it  is  the  consciousness  of 
imperfection  on  our  part  as  parents  that  makes  us  most 
anxious  for  our  children."  We  are  also  distressed  on  account 
of  the  unwisdom  of  our  discipline  and  instruction.  It 
requires  a  great  deal  of  ingenuity  to  build  a  house  or  fashion 
a  ship ;  but  more  ingenuity  to  build  the  temple  of  a  child's 
character,  and  launch  it  on  the  great  ocean  of  time  and 
eternity.  Where  there  is  one  that  seems  qualified  for  the 
work,  there  seems  to  be  twenty  parents  who  miserably  fail. 


454 


"WHAT  OF  OUR  CHILDREN?" 


Here  i  s  a  father  who  says :  "My  child  shall  know  nothing 
but  religion;  he  shall  see  nothing  but  religion."  The  boy  is 
aroused  at  6  o'clock  in  the  morning  to  recite  the  Ten  Com- 
mandments. He  is  awakened  off  the  sofa  on  Sunday  night 
to  see  how  much  he  knows  of  the  "Westminster  Catechism. 
It  is  religion  morning,  noon  and  night.  Passages  of  Scrip- 
ture are  plastered  on  the  bed-room  wall.  He  looks  for  the 
day  of  the  month  in  a  religious  almanac.  Every  minister 
that  comes  to  the  house  is  told  to  take  the  boy  aside  and  talk 
to  him  and  tell  him  what  a  great  sinner  he  is.  After  a  while 
the  boy  comes  to  that  period  of  life  when  he  is  too  old  for 
chastisement,  and  too  young  to  know  and  feel  the  force  of 
moral  principle.  Father  and  mother  are  sitting  up  for  the 
boy  to  come  home.  It  is  9  o'clock  at  night  — 10  o'clock — it 
is  12  o'clock — it  is  12.30,  and  they  hear  the  night  key  jingle 
in  the  door.  They  say  he  is  coming.  George  goes  very 
softly  through  the  hall,  hoping  to  get  upstairs  before  he  is 
accosted.  The  father  says:  " George,  where  have  you  been?" 
"Been  out!"  Yes,  he  has  been  out,  and  he  has  been  down, 
and  he  is  on  the  broad  road  to  destruction,  for  this  life  and 
the  life  to  come.  Father  says:  "There  is  no  use  in  the  Ten 
Commandments;  the  Catechism  seems  to  me  to  be  an  utter 
failure."  Ah,  my  friend,  you  make  a  very  great  mistake. 
You  stuffed  that  child  with  religion  until  he  could  not  digest 
it;  you  made  that  which  is  a  joy  in  many  households  an 
abhorrence  in  yours.  A  man  in  mid-life  said  to  me :  "I  can't 
become  a  Christian.  In  my  father's  house  I  got  such  a 
prejudice  against  religion  I  don't  want  any  of  it.  My  father 
was  one  of  the  best  men  that  ever  lived,  but  he  had  such 
severe  notions  about  things,  and  he  jammed  religion  down 
my  throat,  until  I  don't  want  any  of  it,  sir."  There  have 
been  some  who  have  erred  in  that  direction. 

There  are  households  where  mother  pulls  one  way  and 
father  pulls  the  other.  Father  says:  "My  son,  I  told  you 
the  first  time  I  caught  you  in  a  falsehood  I  would  chastise 


WHAT   OF  OUR  CHILDREN?" 


455 


you,  and  now  I  am  going  to  do  it."  Mother  says:  "Don't, 
let  him  off  this  time."  In  some  families  it  is  all  scolding  and 
fretf illness  with  the  child;  from  Monday  morning  to  Satur- 
day night  it  is  that  style  of  culture.  The  boy  is  picked  at, 
and  picked  at,  and  picked  at.  Now  you  might  better  give 
one  sound  chastisement  and  have  done  with  it,  than  to 
indulge  in  the  perpetual  scolding  and  fretfulness.  There  is 
more  health  in  one  good  thunderstorm  than  in  three  or  four 


I'LAlIiNGr  AT  CARDS. 


days  of  cold  drizzle.  Here  is  a  parent  who  says:  "I  will  not 
err  on  the  side  that  parent  has  erred,  in  being  too  strict  with 
his  children.  I  will  let  mine  do  as  they  please.  If  they 
want  to  come  in  to  prayers,  they  can;  if  they  want  to  play  at 
cards,  they  can;  they  can  do  anything  they  please — there 
shall  be  no  hindrance.    Go  it !    Here  are  tickets  for  the 


456 


"WHAT  OF  OUR  CHILDREN  ?" 


opera  and  theater,  son.  Take  your  friends  with  you.  Do 
whatever  you  desire."  One  day  a  gentleman  comes  in 
from  the  bank  to  his  father's  office  and  says:  "They  want  to 
see  you  at  the  bank  a  minute."  Father  goes  into  the  bank. 
The  cashier  says:  "Is  that  your  check?  "  Father  looks  at  it 
and  says:  "No,  I  never  gave  that  check;  I  never  cross  a  't' 
in  that  way;  I  never  make  the  curl  to  a  *y'  in  that  way.  It 
is  not  my  check;  that's  a  forgery.    Send  for  the  police!" 

"Ah,"  says  the  cashier,  "don't  be  so  quick;  your  son  did 
that!"  The  fact  was  that  the  boy  had  been  out  in  dissipat- 
ing circles,  and  ten  dollars  and  fifty  dollars  went  in  that 
direction,  and  he  had  been  treated  and  he  had  to  treat 
others,  and  the  boy  felt  he  must  have  five  hundred  dollars  to 
keep  himself  in  that  circle.  That  night  the  father  sits  up  for 
the  son  to  come  home.  It  is  1  o'clock  before  he  comes  into 
the  hall.  He  comes  in  very  much  flushed,  his  eye  glaring 
and  his  breath  offensive.  Father  says:  "My  son,  how  can 
you  do  so?  I  have  given  you  everything  you  wanted  and 
everything  to  make  you  comfortable  and  happy,  and  now  I 
find,  in  my  old  age,  that  you  are  a  spendthrift,  a  libertine 
nnd  a  drunkard."  The  son  says:  "Now,  father,  what's  the 
use  of  your  talking  in  that  way?  You  told  me  I  might  have 
a  good  time,  and  to  go  it.  I  have  been  acting  on  your  sug- 
gestion, that's  all." 

And  so  one  parent  errs  on  one  side,  and  another  parent 
errs  on  the  other,  and  how  to  strike  a  happy  medium  between 
severity  and  too  great  leniency,  and  train  our  sons  and 
daughters  for  usefulness  on  earth  and  bliss  in  heaven,  is  a 
question  which  agitates  every  Christian  household.  Where 
so  many  good  men  and  women  have  failed,  is  it  strange  that 
we  should  sometimes  doubt  the  propriety  of  our  theory  and 
the  accuracy  of  our  kind  of  government? 

Parental  anxiety  often  arises  from  an  early  exhibition  of 
sinfulness  in  the  child.  The  morning-glories  bloom  for  a 
little  while  under  the  sun,  and  then  they  shut  up  as  the  tfeat 


"WHAT  OF  OUR  CHILDREN  ?" 


457 


comes  on ;  but  there  are  flowers  along  the  Amazon  that  blaze 
their  beauty  for  weeks  at  a  time;  but  the  short-lived  morn- 
ing glory  fulfills  its  mission  as  well  as  the  Victoria  Eegia. 
There  are  some  people  who  take  forty,  fifty  or  sixty  years  to 
develop.  Then  there  are  little  children  who  fling  their 
beauty  on  the  vision  and  vanish.  They  are  morning-glories 
that  can  not  stand  the  glare  of  the  hot  noon  sun  of  trial. 
You  have  all  known  such  little  children.  They  were  pale; 
they  were  ethereal;  there  was  something  very  wonderfully 
deep  in  the  eye;  they  had  a  gentle  foot  and  soft  hand,  and 
something  almost  supernatural  in  their  behavior — ready  to 
be  wafted  away.  You  had  such  a  one  in  your  household. 
Gone  now !  It  was  too  delicate  a  plant  for  this  rough  world. 
The  heavenly  gardener  saw  it  and  took  it  in.  We  make 
splendid  Sunday-school  books  out  of  such  children,  but  they 
almost  always  die.  I  have  noticed,  that  for  the  most  part 
the  children  that  live  sometimes  get  cross,  and  pick  up  bad 
words  in  the  street,  and  quarrel  with  brother  and  sister,  and 
prove  unmistakably  that  they  are  wicked — as  the  Bible  says, 
going  astray  from  the  womb,  speaking  lies.  See  the  little 
ones  in  the  Sabbath  class,  so  sunshiny  and  beautiful,  you 
would  think  they  were  always  so,  but  mother,  seated  a  little 
way  off,  looks  over  at  these  children  and  thinks  of  the  awful 
time  she  had  to  get  them  ready.  After  the  boy  or  girl  comes 
a  little  further  on  in  life,  the  mark  of  sin  upon  them  is  still 
more  evident.  The  son  comes  in  from  a  pugilistic  encounter 
in  the  streets,  bearing  the  marks  of  a  defeat.  The  daughter 
practices  positive  deception,  and  the  parent  says:  "What 
shall  I  do?  I  can't  always  be  correcting  and  scolding,  and 
yet  these  things  must  be  stopped."  It  is  especially  sad  if 
the  parent  sees  his  own  faults  copied  by  the  child.  It  is  a 
very  hard  work  to  pull  up  a  nettle  that  we  ourselves  planted. 
We  remember  that  the  greatest  frauds  that  ever  shook  the 
banking-houses  of  the  country  started  from  a  boy's  deception 
a  gd&d  many  years  ago ;  and  the  gleaming  blade  of  the  mur- 


"what  of  our  children  ?" 


derer  is  only  another  blade  of  the"  knife  with  which  the  boy 
struck  at  his  comrade.  The  cedar  of  Lebanon,  that  wrestles, 
with  the  blast,  started  from  seed  lodged  in  the  side  of  the 
mountain,  and  the  most  tremendous  dishonesties  of  the 
world  once  toddled  out  from  the  cradle.  All  these  things 
make  parents  anxious. 

Anxiety  on  the  part  of  parents  also  arises  from  the  con- 
sciousness that  there  are  so  many  temptations  thrown  all 
around  our  young  people.  It  may  be  almost  impossible  to 
take  a  castle  by  siege — straightforward  siege — but  suppose  in 
the  night  there  is  a  traitor  within,  and  he  goes  down  and 
draws  the  bolt  and  swings  open  the  great  door,  and  then  the 
castle  falls  immediately.  That  is  the  trouble  with  the  hearts 
of  the  young;  they  have  foes  without  and  foes  within. 
There  are  a  great  many  who  try  to  make  our  young  people 
believe  that  it  is  a  sign  of  weakness  to  be  pure.  The  man 
will  toss  his  head  and  take  dramatic  attitudes  and  tell  of  his 
own  indiscretions,  and  ask  the  young  man  if  he  would  not 
like  to  do  the  same.  And  they  call  him  verdant,  and  they 
say  he  is  green  and  unsophisticated,  and  wonder  how  he  can 
bear  the  Puritanical  straight- jacket.  They  tell  him  he  ought 
to  break  from  his  mother's  apron  strings,  and  they  say:  "I 
will  show  you  all  about  town.  Gome  with  me.  You  ought 
to  see  the  world.  It  won't  hurt  you.  Do  as  you  please;  it 
will  be  the  making  of  you."  After  awhile  the  young  man 
says:  "I  don't  want  to  be  odd.  nor  can  I  afford  to  sacrifice 
these  friends,  and  I'll  go  and  see  for  myself."  From  the 
gates  of  hell  there  goes  a  shout  of  victory.  Farewell  to  all 
innocence — farewell  to  all  early  restraints  favorable  to  that 
innocence  which,  once  gone,  never  comes  back.  I  heard  one 
of  the  best  men  I  ever  knew,  seventy-five  years  of  age,  say: 
"Sir,  God  has  forgiven  me  for  all  the  sins  of  my  lifetime.  I 
know  that;  but  there  is  one  sin  I  committed  at  twenty  years 
of  age  that  I  never  will  forgive  myself  for.  It  sometimes 
comes  over  me  overwhelmingly,  and  it  absolutely  blots  out 


"WHAT  OF  OUR  CHILDREN  ?" 


459 


my  hope  of  heaven."  Young  man,  hear  it.  How  many 
traps  there  are  set  for  our  young  people!  That  is  what 
makes  parents  so  anxious.  Here  are  temptations  for  every 
form  of  dissipation  and  every  stage  of  it.  The  young  man, 
when  he  first  goes  into  dissipation,  is  very  particular  where 
he  goes.  It  must  be  a  fashionable  hotel.  He  could  not  be 
tempted  into  these  corner  nuisances,  with  red- stained  glass 
and  a  mug  of  beer  painted  on  the  sign-board.  You  ask  the 
young  man  to  go  into  that  place  and  he  would  say:  "Do 
you  mean  to  insult  me?"  No;  it  must  be  a  marble-floored 
bar-room.  There  must  be  no  lustful  pictures  behind  the 
counter;  there  must  be  no  drunkard  hiccoughing  while  he 
takes  his  glass  It  must  be  a  place  where  elegant  gentle- 
men come  in  and  click  their  cut-glass  and  drink  to  the 
announcement  of  flattering  sentiment.  But  the  young  man 
can  not  always  find  that  kind  of  a  place;  yet  he  has  a  thirst 
and  it  must  be  gratified.  The  down-grade  is  steeper  now, 
and  he  is  almost  at  the  bottom.  Here  they  sit  in  an  oyster 
cellar  around  a  card  table,  wheezing,  bloated  and  bloodshot, 
with  cards  so  greasy  you  can  hardly  tell  who  has  the  best 
hand.  But  never  mind;  they  are  only  playing  for  drink. 
Shuffle  away!  shuffle  away!  The  landlord  stands  in  his 
shirt- sleeves,  with  hands  on  his  hips,  watching  the  game  and 
waiting  for  another  call  to  fill  up  the  glasses.  It  is  the  hot 
breath  of  eternal  woe  that  flushes  that  young  man's  cheek. 
In  the  jets  of  gaslight  I  see  the  shooting  out  of  the  fiery 
tongue  of  the  worm  that  never  dies.  The  clock  strikes 
twelve;  it  is  the  tolling  of  the  bell  of  eternity  at  the  burial 
of  a  soul.  Two  hours  pass  on  and  they  are  all  sound  asleep 
in  their  chairs.  Landlord  says:  "Come,  now,  wake  up; 
it's  time  to  shut  up. "  They  look  up  and  say :  "What?"  "It's 
time  to  shut  up."  Push  them  out  into  the  air.  They  are 
going  home.  Let  the  wife  crouch  in  the  corner,  and  the 
children  hide  under  the  bed.  They  are  going  home !  What 
is  the  history  of  that  young  man?    He  began  his  dissipation 


460 


"what  of  our  children  ?" 


at  a  fashionable  hotel,  and  completed  his  damnation  in  the 
worst  of  grog-shops. 

But  sin  even  does  not  stop  here.  It  comes  to  the  door  of 
the  drawing-room.  There  are  men  of  leprous  hearts  that  go 
into  the  very  best  classes  of  society.  They  are  so  fascina- 
ting— they  have  such  a  bewitching  way  of  offering  their  arm. 
Yet  the  poison  of  asps  is  under  the  tongue,  and  their  heart 
is  hell.  At  first  their  sinful  devices  are  hidden,  but  after 
awhile  they  begin  to  put  forth  their  talons  of  death.  Now 
they  begin  to  show  really  what  they  are.  Suddenly  — 
although  you  could  not  have  expected  it,  they  were  so  charm- 
ing in  their  manner,  so  fascinating  in  their  address — sud- 
denly a  cloud,  blacker  than  was  ever  woven  of  midnight  or 
hurricane,  drops  upon  some  domestic  circle.  There  is  agony 
in  the  parental  bosom  that  none  but  the  Lord  God  Almighty 
can  measure — an  agony  that  wishes  that  the  children  of  the 
household  had  been  swallowed  by  the  grave,  when  it  would 
be  only  a  loss  of  body  instead  of  a  loss  of  soul.  What  is 
the  matter  with  that  household?  They  have  not  had  the 
front  windows  open  in  six  months  or  a  year.  The  mother's 
hair  suddenly  turned  white;  father,  hollow-cheeked  and  bent 
over  prematurely,  goes  down  the  street.  There  has  been  no 
death  in  that  family — no  loss  of  property.  Has  madness 
seized  upon  them?  No!  no!  A  villain,  kid-gloved,  patent- 
leathered,  with  gold  chain  and  graceful  manner,  took  that 
cup  of  domestic  bliss,  elevated  it  high  in  the  air  until  the 
sunlight  struck  it,  and  all  the  rainbows  danced  about  the 
brim,  and  then  dashed  it  down  in  desolation  and  wToe,  until 
all  the  harpies  of  darkness  clapped  their  hands  with  glee, 
and  all  the  voices  of  hell  uttered  a  loud  ha!  ha!  Oh,  there 
are  scores  and  hundreds  of  homes  that  have  been  blasted, 
and  if  the  awful  statistics  could  be  fully  set  before  you,  your 
blood  would  freeze  into  a  solid  cake  of  ice  at  the  heart.  Do 
you  wonder  that  fathers  and  mothers  are  anxious  about  their 
children,  and  that  they  ask  themselves  the  questions  day  and 


"WHAT  OF  OUR  CHILDREN?" 


461 


night :  What  is  to  become  of  them  ?  What  will  be  their 
destiny? 

Let  me  tell  you,  parents,  that  a  great  deal  of  anxiety  will 
be  lifted  if  you  will  begin  early  with  your  children.  Tom 
Paine  said :  "  The  first  five  years  of  my  life  I  became  an 
infidel."  A  vessel 
goes  out  to  sea;  it 
has  been  five  days 
out.  A  storm  comes 
it;   it  springs  a 


on 

leak;  the  helm  will 
not  work ;  every- 
thing is  out  of  or- 
der. What  is  the 
matter?  The  ship  is 
not  sea -worthy,  and 
never  was.  It  is  a 
poor  time  to  find  it 
out  now.  Under  the  ' 
fury  of  the  storm 
the  vessel  goes 
down,  with  two 
hundred  and  fifty 
passengers,  to  a  watery  grave.  The  time  to  make  the  ship 
sea-worthy  was  in  the  dry  dock,  before  it  started.  Alas 
for  us,  if  we  wait  until  our  children  get  out  into  the 
world  before  we  try  to  bring  upon  them  the  influences 
of  Christ's  religion!  I  tell  you  the  dry  dock  of  the 
Christian  home  is  the  place  where  we  are  to  fit  them 
for  usefulness  and  for  heaven.  In  this  world,  under 
the  storm  of  vice  and  temptation,  it  will  be  too  late. 
In  the  domestic  circle  you  decide  whether  your  child 
shall  be  truthful  or  false — whether  it  shall  be  generous  or 
penurious.  You  can  tell  by  the  way  a  child  divides  an  apple 
just  what  its  future  history  will  be.    You  ought  to  oversee 


THOMAS  PAINE. 


462 


"what  of  our  children?" 


the  process.  If  the  child  take  nine-tenths  of  the  apple,  giv- 
ing the  other  tenth  to  his  sister,  if  he  should  live  to  be  one 
hundred  he  will  be  grasping  and  want  the  biggest  piece  of 
everything.  I  stood  in  a  house  in  one  of  the  Long  Island 
villages,  and  I  saw  a  beautiful  tree,  and  I  said  to  the  owner: 
"That  is  a  very  fine  tree,  but  what  a  curious  crook  there  is  in 
it?"  "Yes,"  said  he,  "I  planted  that  tree,  and  when  it  was 
a  year  old  I  went  to  New  York  and  worked  as  a  mechanic 
for  a  year  or  two,  and  when  I  came  back  I  found  that  they 
had  allowed  something  to  stand  against  the  tree;  so  it  has 
always  had  that  crook."  And  so  I  thought  it  was  with  the 
influence  upon  children.  If  you  allow  anything  to  stand  in 
the  way  of  moral  influences  against  a  child  on  this  side  or 
that  side,  to  the  latest  day  of  its  life  on  earth  and  through 
all  eternity  it  will  show  the  pressure.  No  wonder  Lord 
Byron  was  bad.  Do  you  know  his  mother  said  to  him  when 
she  saw  him  one  day  limping  across  the  floor  with  his  un- 
sound foot.  "Get  out  of  my  way,  you  lame  brat!  "  What 
chance  for  a  boy  like  that? 

Two  young  men  come  to  the  door  of  sin.  They  consult 
whether  they  will  go  in.  The  one  young  man  goes  in  and 
the  other  retreats.  "Oh,"  you  say,  "the  last  had  better 
resolution."  No,  that  was  not  it.  The  first  young  man  had 
no  early  good  influence;  the  last  had  been  piously  trained, 
and  when  he  stood  at  the  door  of  sin  discussing  the  matter 
he  looked  around  as  if  to  see  some  one,  and  he  felt  an  invisi- 
ble hand  on  his  shoulder,  saying:  "Don't  go  in!  don't  go 
in!"  Whose  hand  was  it?  A  mother's  hand,  fifteen  years 
ago  gone  to  dust.  A  gentleman  was  telling  me  of  the  fact 
that  some  years  ago  there  were  two  young  men  who  stopped 
at  the  door  of  the  Park  Theater,  in  New  York.  The  question 
was  whether  they  should  go  in.  That  night  there  was  to  be 
a  very  immoral  play  enacted  in  the  Park  Theater.  One  man 
went  in;  the  other  staid  out.  The  young  man  who  went  in 
went  on  from  sin  to  sin,  and  through  a  crowd  of  iniquities, 


"what  of  our  children  ?" 


463 


and  died  in  the  hospital  of  delirium  tremens.  The  other 
young  man  who  retreated  chose  Christ,  went  into  the  gospel, 
and  is  now  one  of  the  most  eminent  ministers  of  Christ  in 
this  country.  And  the  man  who  retreated  gave  as  his  reason 
for  turning  back  from  the  Park  Theater  that  night,  that  there 
was  an  early  voice  within  him,  saying:  "Don't  go  in!  don't 
go  in!"  And  for  that  reason,  my  readers,  I  believe  so  much 
in  Bible  classes.  But  there  is  something  better  than  the 
Bible  class,  and  that  is  the  Sunday-school  class.  I  like  it 
because  it  takes  children  at  an  earlier  point ;  and  the  infant 
class  I  like  still  better,  because  it  takes  children  before  they 
begin  to  walk  or  to  talk  straight  and  puts  them  on  the  road 
to  heaven.  You  can  not  begin  too  early.  You  stand  on  the 
bank  of  a  river  flowing  by.  You  can  not  stop  that  river,  but 
you  travel  days  and  days  toward  the  source  of  it,  and  you 
find  after  awhile  where  it  comes  down  dropping  from  the 
rock,  and  with  your  knife  you  make  a  course  in  this  or  that 
direction  for  the  dropping  to  take,  and  you  decide  the  course 
of  the  river.  You  stand  and  see  your  children's  character 
rolling  on  with  great  impetuosity  and  passion,  and  you  can- 
not affect  them.  Go  up  toward  the  source  where  the  charac- 
ter first  starts,  and  decide  that  it  shall  take  the  right  direc- 
tion, and  it  will  follow  the  path  you  give  it. 

But  I  want  you  to  remember,  0  father !  0  mother !  that  it 
is  what  you  do  that  is  going  to  affect  your  children,  and  not 
what  you  say.  You  tell  your  children  to  become  Christians, 
while  you  are  not,  and  they  will  not.  Do  you  think  Noah's 
family  would  have  gone  into  the  ark  if  he  had  not  gone  in? 
They  would  say:  "No,  there  is  something  about  that  boat 
that  is  not  right;  father  has  not  gone  in."  You  can  not 
push  children  into  the  kingdom  of  God ;  you  have  got  to 
pull  them  in.  There  has  been  many  a  General  in  a  tower 
or  castle  looking  at  his  army  fighting,  but  that  is  not  the 
kind  of  a  man  to  arouse  enthusiasm  among  his  troops.  It  is 
a  Garibaldi  or  Napoleon  I.,  who  leaps  into  the  stirrups,  and 


464 


"WHAT  OF  OUR  CHILDREN?" 


dashes  into  the  conflict,  and  has  his  troops  following  him 
with  wild  huzzas.  So  you  can  not  stand  off  in  your  impen- 
itent state  and  tell  your  children  to  go  ahead  into  the  Chris- 
tian life  and  have  them  go.  You  must  yourself  dash  into  the 
Christian  conflict;  you  must  lead  them  and  not  tell  them  to 
go.  Do  you  know  that  all  the  instructions  you  give  to  your 
children  in  a  religious  direction  goes  for  nothing  unless  you 
illustrate  it  in  your  own  life?  The  teacher  at  the  school 
takes  a  copybook,  writes  a  specimen  of  good  writing  across 
the  top  of  the  page,  but  he  makes  a  mistake  in  one  letter  of 
the  copy.  The  boy  comes  along  on  the  next  line,  copies  the 
top  line,  and  makes  the  mistake,  and  if  there  be  fifteen  lines 
on  that  page  they  will  have  the  mistake  there  was  in  the  copy 
on  the  top.  The  father  has  an  error  in  his  life — a  very 
great  error.  The  son  comes  along  and  copies  it  now,  to- 
morrow, next  year,  copies  it  to  the  day  of  his  death.  It  is 
what  you  are,  not  so  much  what  you  teach.  Have  a  family 
altar.  Let  it  be  a  cheerful  place,  the  brightest  room  in  your 
house.  Do  not  t  wear  your  children's  knees  out  with  long 
prayers.  Have  the  whole  exercise  spirited.  If  you  have  a 
melodeon,  or  an  organ,  or  a  piano  in  the  house,  have  it  open. 
Then  lead  in  prayers.  If  you  cannot  make  a  prayer  of  your 
own,  take  Matthew  Henry's  Prayers,  or  the  Episcopal  Prayer 
Book.  None  better  than  that.  Kneel  down  with  your  little 
ones  morning  and  night,  and  commend  them  to  God.  Do 
you  think  they  will  ever  get  over  it?  Never!  After  you  are 
under  the  sod  a  good  many  years  there  will  be  some  powerful 
temptation  around  that  son,  but  the  memory  of  father  and 
mother  at  morning  and  evening  prayers  will  have  its  effect 
upon  him ;  it  will  bring  him  back  from  the  path  of  sin  and 
death.  But  I  want  you  to  make  a  strict  mark,  a  sharp,  plain 
line  between  innocent  hilarity  on  the  part  of  your  children 
and  a  vicious  proclivity.  Do  not  think  your  boys  will  go  to 
ruin  because  they  make  a  racket.  A  glum,  unresponsive 
child  makes  the  worst  form  of  a  villain.    Children,  when 


"what  of  our  children  ?" 


465 


they  are  healthy,  always  make  a  racket.  I  want  you,  at  the 
very  first  sign  of  depravity  in  the  child,  to  correct  it.  Do  not 
laugh  because  it  is  smart.  If  you  do  you  will  live  to  cry 
because  it  is  malicious.  Do  not  talk  of  your  children's  frail- 
ties lightly  in  their  presence,  thinking  they  do  not  under- 
stand you ;  they  do  understand.  Do  not  talk  disparagingly 
of  your  child,  making  him  feel  that  he  is  a  reprobate.  Do 
not  say  to  your  little  one:  "You're  the  worst  child  I  ever 
knew."    If  you  do,  he  will  be  the  worst  man  you  ever  knew. 

Are  your  children  safe  for  heaven?  You  can  tell  better 
than  any  one  else.  I  put  you  the  question :  "  Are  your  chil- 
dren safe  for  heaven?"  I  heard  of  a  mother  who,  when  the 
house  was  afire,  in  the  excitement  of  the  occasion,  got  out  a 
great  many  of  the  valuable  things — many  choice  articles  of 
furniture — but  did  not  think  to  ask  until  too  late:  "Is  my 
child  safe?"  It  was  too  late  then.  The  flames  had  encircled 
all;  the  child  was  gone!  Oh,  my  dear  reader,  when  sea  and 
land  shall  burn  in  the  final  conflagration,  will  your  children 
be  safe  ? 

I  wonder  if  what  I  have  written  will  not  strike  a  chord  in 
some  one  who  had  a  good  father  and  mother,  but  is  not  yet 
a  Christian? 

God  wants  you  to  have  that  memory  revived.  Your  dear, 
Christian  mother,  how  she  loved  you !  You  remember  when 
you  were  sick  how  kindly  she  attended  you;  the  night  was 
not  too  long,  and  you  never  asked  her  to  turn  the  pillow  but 
she  did  it.  You  remember  her  prayers,  also;  you  remember 
how  you  broke  your  mother's  heart.  You  remember  her 
sorrow  over  your  waywardness ;  you  remember  the  old  place 
where  she  did  you  so  many  kindnesses ;  the  chairs,  the  table, 
the  door-sill  where  you  played,  the  tones  of  her  voice.  Why, 
you  can  think  them  back  now.  Though  they  were  borne 
long  ago  on  the  air,  they  come  ringing  through  your  soul  to- 
day, calling  you  by  the  first  name.  You  are  not  "Mr."  to 
her;  it  is  just  your  plain  first  name.    Is  not  this  the  time 


466 


"what  of  our  children  ?" 


when  her  prayers  will  be  answered?  If  you  should  come  to 
Christ  now,  amid  all  the  throngs  of  heaven  the  gladdest  of 
them  would  be  your  Christian  parents,  who  are  in  glory 
waiting  for  your  redemption.  Angels  of  God,  shout  the  tid- 
ings, the  lost  has  come  back  again ;  the  dead  is  alive !  Eing 
all  the  bells  of  heaven  at  the  jubilee! 


CHAPTER  XXXYI. 


SEQUENCE  OF  EVIL  COMPANIONS. 

While  yet  people  thought  that  the  world  was  flat,  and  thou- 
sands of  years  before  they  found  out  that  it  was  round,  Isaiah 
intimated  the  shape  of  it,  God  sitting  upon  the  circle  of  the 
earth.  The  most  beautiful  figure  in  all  geometry  is  the  cir- 
cle. God  made  the  universe  on  the  plan  of  a  circle.  There 
are  in  the  natural  world  straight  lines,  angles,  parallelograms, 
diagonals,  quadrangles;  but  these  evidently  are  not  God's 
favorites.  Almost  everywhere  where  you  find  him  geome- 
trizing  you  find  the  circle  dominant,  and  if  not  the  circle 
then  the  curve,  which  is  a  circle  that  died  young.  If  it  had 
lived  long  enough  it  would  have  been  a  full  orb,  a  periphery. 
An  ellipse  is  a  circle  pressed  only  a  little  too  hard  at  the 
sides.  Giant's  Causeway  in  Ireland  shows  what  God  thinks 
of  mathematics.  There  are  many  thousand  columns  of 
rocks — octagonal,  hexagonal,  pentagonal.  These  rocks  seem 
to  have  been  made  by  rule  and  by  compass.  Every  artist 
has  his  molding- room  where  he  may  make  fifty  shapes,  but 
he  chooses  one  shape  as  preferable  to  all  the  others.  I  will 
not  say  that  the  Giant's  Causeway  was  the  world's  molding- 
room,  but  I  do  say  out  of  a  great  many  figures  God  seems 
to  have  selected  the  circle  as  the  best.  The  stars  in  a 
circle,  the  moon  in  a  circle,  the  sun  in  a  circle,  the  universe 
in  a  circle,  and  the  throne  of  God  the  center  of  that  circle. 

When  men  build  churches  they  ought  to  imitate  the  idea 
of  the  great  Architect  and  put  the  audience  in  a  circle,  know- 
ing that  the  tides  of  emotion  roll  more  easily  that  way  than 
in  straight  lines.  Six  thousand  years  ago  God  flung  this 
world  out  of  his  right  hand;  but  he  did  not  throw  it  out  in  a 

(467) 


468 


SEQUENCE  OF  EVIL  COMPANIONS. 


straight  line  but  curvilinear,  with  a  lease  of  love  holding  it 
so  as  to  bring  it  back  again.  The  world  started  from  his 
hand  pure  and  Edenic.  It  has  been  rolling  on  through 
regions  of  moral  ice  and  distemper.    How  long  it  will  roll 


THE  EARTH, 


God  only  knows ;  but  it  will  in  due  time  make  a  complete 
circuit  and  come  back  to  the  place  where  it  started — the 
hand  of  God,  pure  and  Edenic. 

The  history  of  the  world  goes  in  a  circle.  Why  is  it  the 
shipping  in  our  day  is  improving  so  rapidly  ?  It  is  because  men 


SEQUENCE   OF  EVIL  COMPANIONS. 


469 


are  imitating  the  old  model  of  Noah's  ark.  A  ship  carpenter 
gives  that  as  his  opinion.  Although  so  much  derided  by  small 
wits  that  ship  of  Noah's  time  beat  the  Etruria  and  the  Ger- 
manic, of  which  we  boast  so  much.  Where  is  the  ship  on  the 
sea  to-day  that  could  outride  a  deluge  in  which  the  heaven  and 
the  earth  were  wrecked,  landing  all  the  passengers  in  safety, 
two  of  each  kind  of  living  creatures,  thousands  of  species. 
Pomology  will  go  on  with  its  achievements  until  after  many 
centuries  the  world  will  have  plums  and  pears  equal  to  the 
Paradisaical.  The  art  of  gardening  will  grow  for  centuries, 
and  after  the  Downings  and  Mitchells  of  the  world  have 
done  their  best,  in  the  far  future  the  art  of  gardening  will 
come  up  to  the  arborescence  of  the  year  1.  If  the  makers  of 
colored  glass  go  on  improving  they  may  in  some  centuries 
be  able  to  make  something  equal  to  the  east  window  of 
York  Minster,  which  was  built  in  1290.  We  are  six  centu- 
ries behind  those  artists,  but  the  world  must  keep  on  toiling 
until  it  has  made  the  complete  circuit  and  come  up  to  the 
skill  of  those  very  men.  If  the  world  continues  to  improve 
in  masonry  we  shall  have  after  a  while,  perhaps  after  the 
advance  of  centuries,  mortar  equal  to  that  which  I  saw  in 
the  wall  of  an  exhumed  English  city,  built  in  the  time  of  the 
Eomans,  1,600  years  ago — that  mortar  to-day  is  as  good  as 
the  day  in  which  it  was  made,  having  outlasted  the  brick 
and  the  stone.  I  say,  after  hundreds  of  years,  masonry  may 
advance  to  that  point.  If  the  world  stands  long  enough  we 
may  have  a  city  as  large  as  they  had  in  old  times.  Babylon, 
five  times  the  size  of  London.  You  go  into  the  potteries  of 
England  and  you  find  them  making  cups  and  vases  after  the 
style  of  the  cups  and  vases  exhumed  from  Pompeii.  The 
world  is  not  going  back.  Oh,  no !  but  it  is  swinging  in  a  cir- 
cle* and  will  come  back  to  the  styles  of  pottery  known  so  long 
ago  as  the  days  of  Pompeii.  The  world  must  keep  on  pro- 
gressing until  it  makes  the  complete  circuit.  The  curve  is  in 
the  right  direction.  The  curve  will  keep  on  until  it  becomes 
a  circle. 


470 


SEQUENCE   OF  EVIL  COMPANIONS. 


What  is  true  in  the  material  universe  is  true  in  God's 
moral  government  and  spiritual  arrangement.  That  is  the 
meaning  of  Ezekiel's  wheel.  ,  All  commentators  agree  in  say- 
ing that  the  wheel  means  God's  providence.  But  a  wheel  is 
of  no  use  unless  it  turn,  and  if  it  turn  it  turns  around,  and 
if  it  turn  around  it  moves  in  a  circle.  What  then?  Are  we 
parts  of  a  great  iron  machine  whirled  around  whether  we 
will  or  not,  the  victims  of  inexorable  fate?  No!  So  far 
from  that  I  shall  show  you  that  we  ourselves  start  the  circle 
of  good  or  bad  actions,  and  that  it  will  surely  come  around  to 
us,  unless  by  divine  intervention  it  be  hindered.  Those  bad 
or  good  actions  may  make  the  circuit  of  many  years;  but 
come  back  to  us  they  will  as  certainly  as  that  God  sits  on 
the  circle  of  the  earth.  Jezebel,  the  worst  woman  of  the 
Bible,  slew  Naboth  because  she  wanted  his  vineyard.  While 
the  dogs  were  eating  the  body  of  Naboth,  Elisha,  the  prophet, 
put  down  his  compass  and  marked  a  circle  from  those  dogs 
clear  around  to  the  dogs  that  should  eat  the  body  of  Jezebel, 
the  murderess.  "Impossible,"  the  people  said,  "that  will 
never  happen."  Who  is  that  being  flung  out  of  the  palace 
window?  Jezebel.  A  few  hours  after  they  came  around, 
hoping  to  bury  her.  They  find  only  the  palms  of  her  hands 
and  the  skull.  The  dogs  that  devoured  Jezebel,  and  the  dogs 
that  devoured  Naboth!  Oh,  what  a  swift,  what  an  awful  cir- 
cuit. 

But  it  is  sometimes  the  case  that  this  circle  sweeps 
through  a  century,  or  through  many  centuries.  The  world 
started  as  a  theocracy  for  government;  that  is,  God  was  Pres- 
ident and  Emperor  of  the  world.  People  got  tired  of  a  the- 
ocracy. They  said:  "We  don't  want  God  directly  interfering 
with  the  affairs  of  the  world;  give  us  a  monarchy."  The 
world  had  a  monarchy.  From  a  monarchy  it  is  going  to 
have  a  limited  monarchy.  After  awhile  the  limited  mon- 
archy will  be  given  up,  and  the  republican  form  of  govern- 
ment will  be  everywhere  dominant  and  recognized.  Then 


SEQUENCE  OF  EVIL  COMPANIONS. 


471 


the  world  will  get  tired  of  the  republican  form  of  govern- 
ment, and  it  will  have  an  anarchy,  which  is  no  government 
at  all.  And  then,  all  nations  finding  out  that  man  is  not  cap- 
able of  righteously  governing  man,  will  cry  out  again  for  a 
theocracy  and  say :  "  Let  God  come  back  and  conduct  the 
affairs  of  the  world. "  Every  step — monarchy,  limited  mon- 
archy, republicanism,  anarchy,  only  different  steps  between 
the  first  theocracy  and  the  last  theocracy,  or  segments  of  the 
great  circle  of  the  earth  on  which  God  sits. 

But  do  not  become  impatient  because  you  can  not  see  the 
curve  of  events,  and  therefore  conclude  that  God's  govern- 
ment is  going  to  break  down.  History  tells  us  that  in  the 
making  of  the  pyramids  it  took  two  thousand  men  two  years 
to  drag  one  great  stone  from  the  quarry  and  put  it  into  the 
pyramids.  Well,  now,  if  men,  short-lived  can  afford  to  work 
so  slowly  as  that,  can  not  God  in  the  building  of  the  eterni- 
ties afford  to  wait?  What  though  God  should  take  ten 
thousand  years  to  draw  a  circle?  Shall  we  take  our  little 
watch,  which  we  have  to  wind  up  every  night  lest  it  run 
down,  and  hold  it  up  beside  the  clock  of  eternal  ages?  If, 
according  to  the  Bible,  1,000  years  are  in  God's  sight  as  a 
day,  then  according  to  that  calculation,  the  6,000  years  of 
the  world's  existence  has  been  only  to  God  as  from  Monday 
to  Saturday. 

But  it  is  often  the  case  that  the  rebound  is  quicker,  and 
the  circle  is  sooner  completed.  You  resolve  that  you  will  do 
what  good  you  can.  In  one  week  you  put  a  word  of  counsel 
in  the  heart  of  a  Sabbath -school  child.  During  that  same 
week  you  give  a  letter  of  introduction  to  a  young  man  strug- 
gling in  business.  During  the  same  week  you  made  an  ex- 
hortation in  a  prayer  meeting.  It  is  all  gone;  you  will  never 
hear  of  it  perhaps,  you  think.  A  few  years  after  a  man 
comes  to  you  and  says:  "You  don't  know  me,  do  you?" 
You  say,  "  No,  I  don't  remember  ever  to  have  seen  you." 
"Why,"  he  says,  "I  was  in  the  Sabbath-school  class  of 


472 


SEQUENCE  OF  EVIL  COMPANIONS. 


which  you  were  the  teacher.  One  Sunday  you  invited  me  to 
Christ.  I  accepted  the  offer.  You  see  that  church  with  two 
towers  yonder?"  "  Yes,"  you  say.  He  says,  "  That  is  where 
I  preach."  Or,  "  Do  you  see  that  Governor's  house?  That 
is  where  I  live."  One  day  a  man  comes  to  you  and 
says,  44  Good  morning. "  You  look  at  him  and  say,  44  Why, 
you  have  the  advantage  of  me;  I  can  not  place  you.  "  He 
says,  "  Don't  you  remember,  thirty  years  ago  giving  a  letter 
of  introduction  to  a  young  man — a  letter  of  introduction  to 
•a  prominent  merchant?  "  "  Yes,  I  do."  He  says,  44 1  am 
the  man.  That  was  my  first  step  toward  a  fortune;  but  I 
have  retired  from  business  now,  and  am  giving  my  time  to 
philanthropies  and  public  interests.  Come  up  to  my  country 
place  and  see  me."  Or  a  man  comes  to  you  and  says,  44 1 
want  to  introduce  myself  to  you.  I  went  into  a  prayer-meet- 
ing some  years  ago.  I  sat  back  near  the  door.  You  arose 
to  make  an  exhortation.  That  talk  changed  the  course  of 
my  life,  and  if  I  ever  get  to  heaven,  I  will  owe  my  salvation 
to  you."  In  only  ten,  twenty,  or  thirty  years,  the  circle 
swept  out  and  swept  back  again  to  your  own  grateful  heart. 

But  sometimes  it  is  a  wider  circle  and  does  not  return  for 
a  great  while.  I  saw  a  bill  of  expenses  for  burning  Latimer 
and  Eidley.  The  bill  of  expenses  says :  One  load  of  fir  fag- 
ots, 3s  4d;  cartage  of  four  loads  of  wood,  2s;  a  post,  Is  4d; 
two  chains,  3s  4d;  two  staples,  6d;  four  laborers,  2s  8d; 
total  of  12s  6d.  That  was  a  cheap  fire  considering  all  the 
circumstances;  but  it  kindled  a  light  which  shone  all  around 
the  world  and  around  the  martyr  spirit;  and  out  from  that 
burning  rolled  the  circle,  wider  and  wider,  starting  other  cir- 
cles, convoluting,  overrunning,  circumscribing,  overarching 
all  heaven. 

But  what  is  true  of  the  good  is  just  us  true  of  the  bad. 
You  utter  a  slander  against  your  neighbor.  It  has  gone 
forth  from  your  teeth.  It  will  never  come  back,  you  think. 
You  have  done  the  man  all  the  mischief  you  can.    You  re- 


SEQUENCE  OF  EVIL  COMPANIONS. 


473 


joice  to  see  him  wince.  You  say,  "  Didn't  I  give  it  to  him?  " 
That  word  has  gone  out,  that  slanderous  word,  on  its  poison- 
ous and  blasted  way.  You  think  it  will  never  do  you  any 
harm.  But  I  am  watching  that  word,  and  I  see  it  beginning 
to  curve,  and  it  curves  around,  and  it  is  aiming  at  your  heart. 
You  had  better  dodge  it.  You  can  not  dodge  it.  It  rolls 
into  your  bosom,  and  after  it  rolls  in  a  word  of  an  old  book, 
which  says :  "  With  what  measure  ye  mete,  it  shall  be  meas- 
ured to  you  again." 

You  maltreat  an  aged  parent.  You  begrudge  him  the 
room  in  jom  house.  You  are  impatient  of  his  whimsical- 
ities and  garrulity.  It  makes  you  mad  to  hear  him  tell  the 
same  story  twice.  You  give  him  food  he  can  not  masticate. 
You  wish  he  was  away.  You  wonder  if  he  is  going  to  live 
forever.  He  will  be  gone  very  soon.  His  steps  are  shorter 
and  shorter.  He  is  going  to  stop.  But  God  has  an  account 
to  settle  with  you  on  that  subject.  After  awhile  your  eye 
will  be  dim  and  your  gait  will  halt,  and  the  sound  of  the 
grinding  will  be  slow,  and  you  will  tell  the  same  story  twice, 
and  your  children  will  wonder  if  you  are  going  to  live  for- 
ever, and  wonder  if  you  will  never  be  taken  away.  They 
called  you  "  father  "  once;  now  they  call  you  "  the  old  man." 
If  you  live  a  few  years  longer  they  will  call  you  "the  old 
chap.''  What  are  those  rough  words  with  which  your  chil- 
dren are  accosting  you!  They  are  the  echo  of  the  very  words 
you  used  in  the  ear  of  your  old  father  forty  years  ago.  What 
is  that  which  you  are  trying  to  chew,  but  find  it  unmastica- 
ble,  and  your  jaws  ache  as  you  surrender  the  attempt?  Per- 
haps it  may  be  the  gristle  which  you  gave  to  your  father  for 
his  breakfast  forty  years  ago.  A  gentleman  passing  along 
the  street  saw  a  son  dragging  his  father  into  the  street  by  the 
hair  of  his  head.  The  gentleman,  outraged  at  this  brutal 
conduct,  was  about  to  punish  the  offender,  when  the  old  man 
arose  and  said :  "  Don't  hurt  him;  its  all  right;  forty  years 
ago  this  morning  I  dragged  out  my  father  by  the  hair  of  his 


£74  SEQUENCE   OF  EVIL  COMPANIONS. 

head."  Other  sins  may  he  adjourned  to  the  next  world,  hut 
maltreatment  of  parents  is  punished  in  this. 

The  circle  turns  quickly,  very  quickly.  Oh,  what  a  stu- 
pendous thought  that  the  good  and  the  evil  we  start  come 
back  to  us !  Do  you  know  that  the  judgment  day  will  he  only 
the  point  at  which  the  circle  joins — the  good  and  the  had  we 
have  done  coming  back  to  us,  unless  divine  intervention  hin- 
ders— coming  back  to  us,  welcome  of  delight  or  curse  of  con- 
demnation? Oh,  I  would  like  to  see  Paul,  the  invalid 
missionary,  at  the  moment  when  his  influence  comes  to  full 
orb — his  influence  rolling  out  through  Antioch,  through 
Cyprus,  through  Lystra,  through  Corinth,  through  Athens, 
through  Asia,  through  Europe,  through  America,  through 

the  first  century, 
through  five  cent- 
uries, through 
twenty  centuries, 
through  all  the 
succeeding  cen- 
turies, through 
earth,  through 
heaven,  and,  at 
last,  the  wave  of 
influence  having 
made  full  circuit, 
strikes  his  great 
soul!  Oh,  then  I 
would  like  to  see 
him!  No  one  can 
tell  the  wide 
sweep  of  the  circle 
of  his  influence, 

save  the  One  who 
voltaire.  ig  geated  on  the 

circle  of  the  earth,   I  should  not  want  to  see  the  counts 


SEQUENCE   OF  EVIL  COMPANIONS. 


475 


nance  of  Voltaire  when  his  influence  comes  to  full  orb. 
When  the  fatal  hemorrhage  seized  him  at  eighty-three  years 
of  age  his  influence  did  not  cease.  The  most  brilliant  man 
of  his  century,  he  had  used  all  his  faculties  for  assaulting 
Christianity;  his  bad  influence  widening  through  Prance, 
widening  out  through  Germauy,  widening  through  all  Europe, 
widening  through  America,  widening  through  the  years  that 
have  gone  by  since  he  died,  widening  through  earth,  widen- 
ing through  hell;  until  at  last  the  accumulated  influence  of 
his  bad  life,  in  fiery  surge  of  omnipotent  wrath,  will  beat 
against  his  destroyed  spirit,  and  at  that  moment  it  will  be 
enough  to  make  the  black  hair  of  eternal  darkness  turn  white 
with  horror.  No  one  can  tell  how  that  bad  man's  influence 
girdled  the  earth,  save  the  One  who  is  seated  on  the  circle  of 
the  earth — the  Lord  Almighty. 

1 '  Well,  now,"  people  say,  "this  in  some  respects  is  a 
very  glad  theory,  and  in  others  a  very  sad  one;  we  would 
like  to  have  all  the  good  we  have  ever  done  come  back  to  us, 
but  the  thought  that  all  the  sins  we  have  ever  committed  will 
come  back  to  us  fills  us  with  affright."  My  brother,  I  have 
to  tell  you  God  can  break  that  circle  and  will  do  so  at  your 
call.  I  can  bring  twenty  passages  of  scripture  to  prove  that 
when  God  for  Christ's  sake  forgives  man,  the  sins  of  his  past 
life  never  come  back.  The  wheel  may  roll  on  and  roll  on, 
but  you  take  your  position  behind  the  cross,  and  the  wheel 
strikes  the  cross  and  it  is  shattered  forever.  The  sins  fly  off 
from  the  circle  into  the  perpendicular,  falling  at  right  angles 
with  complete  oblivion.  Forgiven!  forgiven!  The  meanest 
thing  a  man  can  do  is,  after  some  difficulty  has  been  settled, 
to  bring  it  up  again;  and  God  will  not  be  so  mean  as  that. 
God's  memory  is  mighty  enough  to  hold  all  the  events  of  the 
ages,  but  there  is  one  thing  that  is  sure  to  slip  his  memory, 
one  thing  he  is  sure  to  forget,  and  that  is  pardoned  trans- 
gression. 

But  let  not  the  reader  make  the  mistake  of  thinking  that 


476 


SEQUENCE  OF  EVIL  COMPANIONS. 


this  doctrine  of  the  circle  stops  with  this  life;  it  rolls  on 
through  heaven.  You  might  quote  in  opposition  to  me  what 
Saint  John  says  about  the  city  of  Heaven.  He  says  it  "  lieth 
four  square."  That  does  seem  to  militate  against  this  idea, 
but  you  know  there  is  many  a  square  house  that  has  a  family 
circle  facing  each  other  and  in  a  circle  moving,  and  this  is  so 
in  regard  to  heaven.  Saint  John  says :  "  I  heard  the  voice 
of  many  angels  round  about  the  throne  and  the  beasts  and 
the  elders."  And  again  he  says:  "  There  was  a  rainbow 
round  about  the  throne."  The  two  former  instances  a  circle; 
the  last  either  a  circle  or  a  semi- circle.  The  seats  facing 
each  other,  the  angels  facing  each  other,  the  men  facing  each 
other.  Heaven  an  amphitheater  of  glory.  Circumference  of 
patriarch  and  prophet  and  apostle.  Circumference  of  Scotch 
covenanters  and  Theban  legion  and  Albigenses.  Circumfer- 
ence of  the  good  of  all  ages.  Periphery  of  splendor  unim- 
agined  and  indescribable. 

But  every  circumference  must  have  a  center,  and  what  is 
the  center  of  this  heavenly  circumference?  Christ.  His  all 
the  glory,  his  all  the  praise,  his  all  the  crowns.  All  heaven 
wreathed  into  a  garland  round  about  him.  Take  off  the 
imperial  sandal  from  his  foot,  and  behold  the  scar  of  the 
spike.  Lift  the  coronet  of  dominion  from  his  brow,  and  see 
where  was  the  lacerations  of  the  briars.  Come  closer,  all 
heaven.  Narrow  the  circle  around  his  great  heart  0  Christ, 
the  Saviour.  0  Christ,  the  man !  0  Christ,  the  God !  Keep 
thy  throne  forever,  seated  on  the  circle  of  the  earth,  seated 
on  the  circle  of  the  heaven ! 

On  Christ,  the  solid  rock,  I  stand; 
All  other  ground  is  shifting  sand. 


CHAPTER  XXXVII. 


'  'disadvantages.  ' ' 

A  great  multitude  of  people  are  under  seeming  disadvan- 
tages, and  I  will  in  the  swarthiest  Anglo-Saxon  that  I  can 
manage,  treat  their  cases ;  not  as  a  nurse  counts  out  eight  or 
ten  drops  of  a  prescription,  and  stirs  them  in  a  half  glass  of 
water,  but  as  when  a  man  has  by  mistake  taken  a  large 
amount  of  strychnine,  or  Paris  green,  or  belladonna,  and  the 
patient  is  walked  rapidly  round  the  room,  and  shaken  up, 
and  pounded  until  he  gets  wide  awake.  Many  of  you  have* 
taken  a  large  draught  of  the  poison  of  discouragement,  and 
I  come  out  by  the  order  of  the  Divine  Physician  to  rouse  you 
out  of  that  lethargy. 

Many  people  are  under  the  disadvantage  of  an  unfortunate 
name,  given  them  by  parents  who  thought  they  were  doing  a 
good  thing.  Sometimes  at  the  baptism  of  children,  while  I 
have  held  up  one  hand  in  prayer,  I  have  held  up  the  other 
hand  in  amazement  that  parents  should  have  weighted  the 
babe  with  such  a  dissonant  and  repulsive  nomenclature.  I 
have  not  so  much  wondered  that  some  children  should  cry 
out  at  the  christening  font  as  that  others  with  such  smiling 
face  should  take  a  title  that  will  be  the  burden  of  their  life- 
time. It  is  outrageous  to  afflict  children  with  an  undesirable 
name  because  it  happened  to  be  possessed  by  a  parent  or  a 
rich  uncle  from  whom  favors  are  expected,  or  some  prominent 
man  of  the  day  who  may  end  his  life  in  disgrace.  It  is  no 
excuse,  because  they  are  Scripture  names,  to  call  a  child 
Jehoiakim,  or  Tiglath-Pileser.  I  baptised  one  by  the  name 
Bethsheba.    Why,  under  the  circumambient  heaven,  any 

(477) 


478 


DISADVANTAGES." 


parent  should  want  to  give  a  child  the  name  of  that  loose  and 
infamous  creature  of  Scripture  times  I  can  not  imagine.  I 
have  often  felt  at  the  baptismal  altar,  when  names  were 
announced  to  me,  like  saying,  as  did  Eev.  Dr.  Eichards,  of 
Morristown,  N.  J.,  when  a  child  was  handed  him  for  sprink- 
ling, and  the  name  given:  "Hadn't  you  better  call  it  some- 
thing else?  " 

Impose  not  upon  that  babe  a  name  suggestive  of  flippancy 
or  meanness.  There  is  no  excuse  for  such  assault  and  bat- 
tery on  the  cradle  when  our  language  is  opulent  with  names 
musical  in  sound  and  suggestive  in  meaning,  such  as  John, 
meaning  "the  gracious  gift  of  God;"  or  Henry,  meaning 
"the  chief  of  a  household;"  or  Alfred,  meaning  "good 
counsellor;"  or  Joshua,  meaning  "God,  our  salvation;"  or 
Nicholas,  meaning  "victory  of  the  people;"  or  Ambrose, 
meaning  "immortal;"  or  Andrew,  meaning  "manly;"  or 
Esther,  meaning  "a  star;"  or  Abigail,  meaning  "  my  father's 
joy;"  or  Anna,  meaning  "grace;"  or  Victoria,  meaning 
"victory;"  or  Rosalie,  meaning  "beautiful  as  a  rose;"  or 
Margaret,  meaning  "a  pearl;"  or  Ida,  meaning  "god-like;" 
or  Clara,  meaning  "  illustrious ; "  or  Amelia,  meaning  "busy;" 
or  Bertha,  meaning  "beautiful,"  and  hundreds  of  other 
names  just  as  good,  that  are  a  help  rather  than  a  hindrance. 
But  sometimes  the  great  hindrance  in  life  is  not  in  the  given 
name,  but  in  the  family  name.  While  Legislatures  are  will- 
ing to  lift  such  incubus,  there  are  families  that  keep  a  name 
which  mortgages  all  the  generations  with  a  great  disadvan- 
tage. You  say:  "I  wonder  if  he  is  any  relation  to  so  and 
so."  Mentioning  some  family  celebrated  for  crime  or  decep- 
tion. It  is  a  wonder  to  me  that  in  all  such  families  some 
spirited  young  man  does  not  rise,  saying  to  his  brothers  and 
sisters:  "If  you  want  to  keep  this  nuisance  or  scandalization 
of  a  name,  I  will  keep  it  no  longer  than  until  by  quickest 
course  of  law  I  can  slough  off  this  gangrene."  When  the 
General  Assembly  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  of  the  United 


"DISADVANTAGES. 


479 


States  met  in  1876,  two  estimable  men  of  the  sweetest  dis- 
position stopped  at  the  same  house,  and  one  had  the 
misnomer  of  being  Mr.  Sour,  and  the  other  had  the  mis- 
nomer of  being  Mr.  Pickle.  And  your  city  directory  has 
hundreds  of  names  the  mere  pronunciation  of  which  has 
been  a  lifelong  obstacle.  If  you  have  started  life  under  a 
name  which,  either  through  ridiculous  orthography  or  vicious 
suggestion,  has  been  an  incumbrance,  resolve  that  the  next 
generation  shall  not  be  so  weighted.  It  is  not  bemeaning  to 
change  a  name.  Saul  of  Tarsus  became  Paul  the  Apostle. 
Hadassah,  "the  myrtle, "  became  Esther,  "the  star."  We 
have  in  America,  and  I  suppose  it  is  so  in  all  countries,  names 
which  ought  to  be  abolished,  and  can  be,  and  will  be  abol- 
ished for  the  reason  that  they  are  a  libel  and  a  slander.  But 
if  for  any  reason  you  are  submerged  either  by  a  given  name 
or  by  a  family  name  that  you  must  bear,  God  will  help  you 
to  overcome  the  outrage  by  a  life  consecrated  to  the  good 
and  useful.  You  may  erase  the  curse  from  the  name.  You 
may  somewhat  change  the  significance.  If  once  it  stood  for 
meanness,  you  can  make  it  stand  for  generosity.  If  once  it 
stood  for  pride,  you  can  make  it  stand  for  humility.  If  it 
once  stood  for  fraud,  you  can  make  it  stand  for  honesty.  If 
once  it  stood  for  wickedness,  you  can  make  it  stand  for 
purity.  There  have  been  multitudes  of  instances  where  men 
and  women  have  magnificently  conquered  the  disasters  of  the 
name  inflicted  upon  them. 

Many  people  labor  under  the  misfortune  of  incomplete 
physical  equipment.  We  are  by  our  Creator  so  economically 
built  that  we  cannot  afford  the  obliteration  of  any  physical 
faculty.  We  want  our  two  eyes,  our  two  ears,  our  two  hands, 
our  two  feet,  our  eight  fingers  and  two  thumbs.  Yet  what 
multitudes  of  people  have  but  one  eye  or  but  one  foot.  The 
ordinary  casualties  of  life  have  been  quadrupled,  quintupled, 
sextupled — aye,  centupled,  in  our  time  by  the  civil  war,  and 
at  the  North  and  South  a  great  multitude  that  no  man  can 


480 


"disa  d  vantage  s  . ' ' 


number  are  fighting  the  battle  of  life  with  half,  or  less  than 
half,  the  needed  physical  armament.  I  do  not  wonder  at  the 
pathos  of  a  soldier  during  the  war,  who,  when  told  that  he 
must  have  his  hand  amputated,  said:  "Doctor,  can't  you 
save  it?"  And  when  told  that  it  was  impossible,  said,  with 
tears  rolling  down  his  cheeks:  "Well,  then,  good-by,  old 
hand;  I  hate  to  part  with  you.  You  have  done  me  good 
service  for  many  years,  but  it  seems  you  must  go.  Good-by." 
A  celebrated  surgeon  told  me  of  a  scene  in  the  clinical  depart- 
ment of  a  hospital,  when  a  poor  man  with  a  wounded  leg 
was  brought  in  before  the  students  to  be  operated  on.  The 
surgeon  was  pointing  out  this  and  that  to  the  students,  and 
handling  the  wounded  leg,  and  was  about  to  proceed  to 
amputation,  when  the  poor  man  leaped  from  the  table  and 
hobbled  to  the  door,  and  said:  "Gentlemen,  I  am  sorry  to 
disappoint  you,  but,  by  the  help  of  God,  I  will  die  with  my 
leg  on."  What  a  terrific  loss  is  the  loss  of  our  physical 
faculties!  The  way  the  battle  of  Crecy  was  decided  against 
the  French  was  by  the  Welshmen  killing  the  French  horses, 
and  that  brought  their  riders  to  the  ground.  And  when  you 
cripple  this  body,  which  is  merely  the  animal  on  which  the 
soul  rides,  you  may  sometimes  defeat  the  soul.  Yet,  how 
many  suffer  from  this  physical  taking  off !  Good  cheer,  my 
brother!  God  will  make  it  up  to  you  somehow.  The  grace, 
the  sympathy  of  God  will  be  more  to  you  than  anything  you 
have  lost.  If  God  allows  part  of  your  resources  to  be  cut  off 
in  one  place,  he  will  add  it  on  somewhere  else.  As  Augustus, 
the  Emperor,  took  off  a  day  from  February,  making  it  the 
shortest  month  in  the  year,  and  added  it  to  August,  the  month 
named  after  himself,  so  advantages  taken  from  one  part  of 
your  nature  will  be  added  on  to  another. 

It  is  amazing  how  much  of  the  world's  work  has  been 
done  by  men  of  subtracted  physical  organization.  S.  S. 
Preston,  the  great  orator  of  the  Southwest,  went  limping  all 
his  life,  but  there  was  no  foot  put  down  upon  any  platform 


"  DISADVANTAGES." 


481 


of  his  day  that  resounded  so  far  as  his  club  foot.  Beethoven 
was  so  deaf  that  he  could  not  hear  the  crash  of  the  orchestra 
rendering  his  oratorios.  Thomas  Carlyle,  the  dyspeptic 
martyr,  was  given  the  commission  to  drive  cant  out  of  the 
world's  literature.  Eev.  Thomas  Stockton,  of  Philadelphia, 
with  one  lung  raised  his  audience  nearer  heaven  than  most 
ministers  can  raise  them  with  two  lungs.  In  the  banks,  the 
insurance  companies,  the  commercial  establishments,  the 
reformatory  associations,  the  churches,  there  are  tens  of 
thousands  of  men  and  women  to-day  doubled  up  of  rheuma- 
tisms or  subject  to  neuralgias,  or  with  only  fragments  of 
limbs,  the  rest  of  which  they  left  at  Chattanooga,  or  South 
Mountain,  or  the  Wilderness,  and  they  are  worth  more  to 
the  world,  and  more  to  the  church,  and  more  to  God  than 
those  of  us  who  have  never  so  much  as  had  a  finger  joint 
stiffened  by  a  felon.  Put  to  full  use  all  the  faculties  that 
remain,  and  charge  on  all  opposing  circumstances  with  the 
determination  of  John  of  Bohemia,  who  was  totally  blind, 
and  yet  at  a  battle  cried  out:  "I  pray  and  beseech  you  to 
lead  me  so  far  into  the  fight  thab  I  may  strike  one  good  blow 
with  this  sword  of  mine."  Do  not  think  so  much  of  what 
faculties  you  have  lost  as  of  what  faculties  remain.  You 
have  enough  left  to  make  yourself  felt  in  three  worlds,  while 
you  help  the  earth,  and  balk  hell,  and  win  heaven.  Arise 
from  your  discouragements,  oh  men  and  women  of  depleted 
or  crippled  physical  faculties,  and  see  what,  by  the  special 
help  of  God,  you  can  accomplish. 

The  skilled  horsemen  stood  around  Bucephalus,  unable 
to  mount  or  manage  him,  so  wild  was  the  steed.  But 
Alexander  noticed  that  the  sight  of  his  own  shadow  seemed 
to  disturb  the  horse.  So  Alexander  clutched  him  by  the 
bridle  and  turned  his  head  away  from  the  shadow  and  toward 
the  sun,  and  the  horse's  agitation  was  gone,  and  Alexander 
mounted  him  and  rode  off,  to  the  astonishment  of  all  who 
stood  by.    And  what  you  people  need  is  to  have  your  sight 


482 


"DISADVANTAGES." 


turned  away  from  the  shadows  of  your  earthly  lot,  over  which 
you  have  so  long  pondered,  and  your  head  turned  toward  the 
sun — the  glorious  sun  of  gospel  consolation  and  Christian 
hope  and  spiritual  triumph.  And  then  remember  that  all 
physical  disadvantages  will  after  awhile  vanish.  Let  those 
who  have  been  rheumatismed  out  of  a  foot,  or  cataracted  out 
of  an  eye,  or,  by  the  perpetual  roar  of  our  cities,  thundered 
out  of  an  ear,  look  forward  to  the  day  when  this  old  tene- 
ment house  of  flesh  will  come  down  and  a  better  one  shall 
be  builded.  The  resurrection  morning  will  provide  you  with 
a  better  outfit.  Either  the  unstrung,  worn-out,  blunted  and 
crippled  organs  will  be  so  reconstructed  that  you  will  not 
know  them,  or  an  entire  new  set  of  eyes,  and  ears,  and  feet 
will  be  given  you.  Just  what  it  means  by  corruption  putting 
on  incorruption  we  do  not  know,  save  that  it  will  be  glory 
ineffable;  no  limping  in  heaven,  no  straining  of  the  eye- 
sight to  see  things  a  little  way  off;  no  putting  of  the  hand 
behind  the  ear  to  double  the  capacity  of  the  tympanum;  but 
faculties  perfect,  all  the  keys  of  the  instrument  attuned  for 
the  sweep  of  the  fingers  of  ecstasy.  But  until  that  day  of 
resumption  comes  let  us  bear  each  other's  burdens  and  so 
fulfill  the  law  of  Christ. 

Another  form  of  disadvantage  under  which  many  labor 
is  lack  of  early  education.  There  will  be  no  excuse  for 
ignorance  in  the  next  generation.  Free  schools  and  illimit- 
able opportunity  of  education  will  make  ignorance  a  crime. 
I  believe  in  compulsory  education,  and  those  persons  who 
neglect  to  put  their  children  under  educational  advantages  have 
but  one  right  left,  and  that  is  the  penitentiary.  But  there 
are  multitudes  of  men  and  women  in  middle  life  who  have 
had  no  opportunity.  Free  schools  had  not  yet  been  estab- 
lished, and  vast  multitudes  had  little  or  no  school  at  all. 
They  feel  it  when,  as  Christian  men  they  come  to  speak  or 
pray  in  religious  assemblies  or  public  occasions,  patriotic  or 
political  or  educational.    They  are  silent,  because  they  do 


< 6  DISADVANTAGE  S . ' ' 


483 


not  feel  competent.  They  owe  nothing  to  English  grammar, 
or  geography  or  belles-lettres.  They  would  not  know  a  par- 
ticiple from  a  pronoun  if  they  met  it  many  times  a  day. 
Many  of  the  most  successful  merchants  of  America,  and 
men  in  high  political  places,  cannot  write  an  accurate  letter 
on  any  theme.  They  are  completely  dependent  upon  clerks 
and  deputies  and  stenographers  to  make  things  right.  I 
knew  a  literary  man  who,  in  other  years,  in  Washington, 
made  his  fortune  by  writing  speeches  for  Congressmen,  or 
fixing  them  up  for  the  Congressional  Record,  after  they  were 
delivered.  The  millionaire  illiteracy  of  this  country  is 
beyond  measurement.  Now  suppose  a  man  finds  himself  in 
mid -life  without  education,  what  is  he  to  do?  Do  the  best 
he  can.  The  most  effective  layman  in  a  former  pastoral 
charge  that  I  ever  heard  speak  on  religious  themes  could, 
within  five  minutes  of  exhortation,  break  all  the  laws  of 
English  grammar,  and  if  he  left  any  law  unfractured  he 
would  complete  the  work  of  lingual  devastation  in  the  prayer 
with  which  he  followed  it.  But  I  would  rather  have  him 
pray  for  me,  if  I  were  sick  or  in  trouble,  than  any  Christian 
man  I  know  of,  and  in  that  church  all  the  people  preferred 
him  in  exhortation  and  prayer  to  all  others.  Why?  Because 
he  was  so  thoroughly  pious  and  had  such  power  with  God 
he  was  irresistible;  and,  as  he  went  on  in  his  prayer,  sinners 
repented  and  saints  shouted  for  joy,  and  the  bereaved  seemed 
to  get  back  their  dead  in  celestial  companionship.  And  when  he 
had  stopped  praying,  and  as  soon  as  I  could  wipe  out  of  my 
eyes  enough  tears  to  see  the  closing  hymn,  I  ended  the  meeting 
fearful  that  some  long-winded  prayer-meeting  bore  would 
pull  us  down  jrom  the  seventh  heaven.  Not  a  word  have  I 
to  say  against  accuracy  of  speech,  or  fine  elocution,  or  high 
mental  culture.  Get  all  these  you  can.  But  I  do  say  to 
those  who  were  brought  up  in  the  day  of  poor  school-houses 
and  ignorant  school-masters,  and  no  opportunity,  you  may 
have  so  much  of  good  in  your  soul,  and  so  much  of  heaven 


484 


"DISADVANTAGES." 


in  your  every-day  life  that  you  will  be  mightier  for  good  than 
any  who  went  through  the  curriculum  of  Harvard,  or  Yale, 
or  Oxford,  yet  never  graduated  in  the  school  of  Christ. 
When  you  get  up  to  the  gate  of  heaven  no  one  will  ask  you 
whether  you  can  parse  the  first  chapter  of  Genesis,  but 
whether  you  have  learned  the  fear  of  the  Lord,  which  is  the 
beginning  of  wisdom ;  nor  whether  you  know  how  to  square 


VIEW  OF  DELPHI  AND  MT.  PARNASSUS. 

the  circle,  but  whether  you  have  lived  a  square  life  in  a  round 
worlcl.    Mount  Zion  is  higher  than  Mount  Parnassus. 

But  what  other  multitudes  there  are  under  other  disad- 
vantages. Here  is  the  Christian  woman  whose  husband 
thinks  religion  a  sham,  and  while  the  wife  prays  the  chil- 
dren one  way  the  husband  s^  ears  them  another.  Or  here  is 
a  Christian  man  who  is  trying  to  do  his  best  for  God  and 
the  Church,  and  his  wife  holds  him  back  and  says  on  the 
way  home  from  prayer-meeting,  where  he  gave  testimony  for 


<  'DISADVANTAGES.' ' 


485 


Christ:  "What  a  fool  you  made  of  yourself!  I  hope  here- 
after you  will  keep  still. "  And  when  he  would  be  benevo- 
lent and  give  fifty  dollars,  she  criticises  him  for  not  giving 
fifty  cents.  I  must  do  justice,  and  publicly  thank  God  that 
I  never  proposed  at  home  to  give  anything  for  any  cause  of 
humanity  or  religion  but  the  other  partner  in  the  domestic 
firm  approved  it.  And  when  it  seemed  beyond  my  ability 
and  faith  in  God  was  necessary,  she  had  three-fourths  of  the 
faith.  But  I  know  men  who,  when  they  contribute  to  charit- 
able objects,  are  afraid  that  the  wife  shall  find  it  out.  What 
a  withering  curse  such  a  wife  must  be  to  a  good  man!  Then 
there  are  others  under  the  great  disadvantage  of  poverty. 
Who  ought  to  get  things  cheapest?  You  say  those  wrho  have 
little  means.  But  they  pay  more.  You  buy  coal  by  the 
ton,  they  buy  it  by  the  bucket.  You  buy  flour  by  the  barrel, 
they  buy  it  by  the  pound.  You  get  apparel  cheap  because 
you  pay  cash.  They  pay  dear  because  they  have  to  get 
trusted.  And  the  Bible  was  right  when  it  said:  "The 
destruction  of  the  poor  is  their  poverty."  Then  there  are 
those  who  made  a  mistake  in  early  life,  and  that  overshadows 
all  their  days.  "Do  you  not  know  that  that  man  was  once 
in  prison?"  is  whispered.  Or,  "Do  you  know  that  that  man 
once  attempted  suicide?"  Or,  "Do  you  know  that  that 
man  once  absconded?"  Or,  "Do  you  know  that  that  man 
was  once  discharged  for  dishonesty?"  Perhaps  there  was 
only  one  wrong  deed  in  the  man's  life,  and  that  one  act 
haunts  the  subsequent  half-century  of  his  existence. 

Others  have  unfortunate  predominance  of  some  mental 
faculty,  and  their  rashness  throws  them  into  wild  enterprises, 
or  their  trepidation  makes  them  decline  great  opportunity, 
or  there  is  a  vein  of  melancholy  in  their  disposition  that 
defeats  them,  or  they  have  an  endowment  of  over-mirth  that 
causes  the  impression  of  insincerity.  Others  have  a  mighty 
obstacle  in  their  personal  appearance,  for  which  they  are 
not  responsible,    They  forget  that  God  fashioned  their 


486 


'  'DISADVANTAGE  S . ' ' 


features  and  their  complexion,  and  their  stature,  the  size  of 
their  nose  and  mouth,  and  hands  and  feet,  and  gave  them 
the  gait  and  the  general  appearance ;  and  they  forget  that 
much  of  the  world's  best  work,  and  the  church's  best  work, 
has  been  done  by  homely  peeple;  and  that  Paul  the  Apostle 
is  said  to  have  been  hump-backed,  and  his  eyesight  weakened 
by  ophthalmia,  while  many  of  the  finest  in  appearance  have 
passed  their  time  before  flattering-looking  glasses,  or  in 
studying  killing  attitudes,  and  in  displaying  the  richness  of 
wardrobes — not  one  ribbon,  or  vest,  or  sack,  or  glove,  or  but- 
ton, or  shoestring  of  which  they  have  had  brains  enough  to 
earn  for  themselves.  Others  had  wrong  proclivities  from 
the  start.  They  were  born  wrong,  and  that  sticks  to  one 
even  after  he  is  born  again.  They  have  a  natural  cranki- 
ness that  is  two  hundred  and  seventy-five  years  old.  It  came 
over  with  their  great-grandfathers  from  Scotland,  or  Wales, 
or  France.  It  was  born  on  the  banks  of  the  Thames,  or  the 
Clyde,  or  the  Tiber,  or  the  Khine,  and  has  survived  all  the 
plagues  and  epidemics  of  many  generations,  and  is  living  to- 
day on  the  banks  of  the  Hudson,  or  the  Androscoggin,  or 
the  Savannah,  or  the  La  Plata.  And  when  a  man  tries  to 
stop  this  evil  ancestral  proclivity  he  is  like  a  man  on  a  rock 
in  the  rapids  of  Niagara  holding  on  with  a  grip  from  which 
the  swift  currents  are  trying  to  sweep  him  into  the  abyss 
beyond. 

Oh,  this  world  is  an  over-burdened  world,  an  overworked 
world!  It  is  an  awfully  tired  world.  It  is  a  dreadfully 
unfortunate  world.  Scientists  are  trying  to  find  out  the 
cause  of  these  earthquakes  in  all  lands,  cisatlantic  and  trans- 
atlantic. Some  say  this  and  some  say  that.  I  have  taken 
the  diagnosis  of  what  is  the  matter  with  the  earth.  It  has 
so  many  burdens  on  it  and  so  many  fires  within  it,  it  has  a 
fit.  It  can  not  stand  such  a  circumference  and  such  a 
diameter.  Some  new  Cotopaxi  or  Stromboli  or  Vesuvius 
will  open,  and  then  all  will  be  at  peace  for  the  natural  world. 


' '  DISADVANTAGES . ' ' 


487 


But  what  about  the  moral  woes  of  the  world,  that  have 
rocked  all  nations,  and  for  six  ttiousand  years  science  pro- 
poses nothing  but  knowledge,  and  many  people  that  know 
the  most  are  the  most  uncomforted.  In  the  way  of  practical 
relief  for  all  disadvantages  and  all  woes,  the  only  voice  that 
is  worth  listening  to  on  this  subject  is  the  voice  of  Chris- 
tianity, which  is  the  voice  of  Almighty  God.  Whether  I 
have  mentioned  the  particular  disadvantage  under  which  you 
labor  or  not,  I  distinctly  declare,  in  the  name  of  my  God, 
that  there  is  a  way  out  and  a  way  up  for  all  of  you.  You 
can  not  be  any  worse  off  than  that  Christian  young  woman 
who  was  in  the  Pemberton  mills  when  they  fell  some  years 
ago,  and  from  under  the  fallen  timbers  she  was  heard  sing- 
ing, I  am  going  home  to  die  no  more. 

Take  good  courage  from  that  Bible,  all  of  whose  promises 
are  for  those  in  bad  predicament.  There  are  better  days  for 
you,  either  on  earth  or  in  heaven.  I  put  my  hand  under  your 
chin  and  lift  your  face  into  the  light  of  the  coming  dawn. 
Have  God  on  your  side,  and  then  you  have  for  reserve  troops 
all  the  armies  of  heaven,  the  smallest  company  of  which  is 
twenty  thousand  chariots,  and  the  smallest  battalion  one 
hundred  and  forty- four  thousand,  the  lightnings  of  heaven 
their  drawn  swords.  An  ancient  warrior  saw  an  overpower- 
ing host  come  down  upon  his  small  company  of  armed  men, 
and,  mounting  his  horse  with  a  handful  of  sand,  he  threw  it 
in  the  air,  crying :  "Let  their  faces  be  covered  with  confusion  I" 
And  both  armies  heard  his  voice,  and  history  says  it  seemed 
as  though  the  dust  thrown  in  the  air  had  become  so  many 
angels  of  supernatural  deliverance,  and  the  weak  overcome 
the  mighty,  and  the  immense  host  fell  back,  and  the  small 
number  marched  on.  Have  faith  in  God,  and  though  all  the 
allied  forces  of  discouragement  seem  to  come  against  you  in 
battle  array,  and  their  laugh  of  defiance  and  contempt 
resounds  through  all  the  valleys  and  mountains,  you  might 
by  faith  in  God  and  importunate  prayer  pick  up  a  handful 


488 


<  'DISADVANTAGES." 


of  the  very  dust  of  your  humiliation  and  throw  it  into  tho 
air,  and  it  shall  become  angels  of  victory  over  all  the  armies 
of  earth  and  hell.  The  voices  of  your  adversaries,  human 
and  satanic,  shall  be  covered  with  confusion,  while  you  shall 
be  not  only  conqueror,  but  more  than  conqueror,  through  that 
grace  which  has  so  often  made  the  fallen  helmet  of  an  over- 
thrown antagonist  the  footstool  of  a  Christian  victory. 


CHAPTEE  XXXVIII. 


RETRIBUTION  OF  HARD  THOUGHTS. 

In  the  greatest  sermon  ever  preached — a  sermon  about 
fifteen  minutes  long  according  to  the  ordinary  rate  of  speech — 
a  sermon  on  the  Mount  of  Olives,  the  preacher  sitting  while 
he  spoke,  according  to  the  ancient  mode  of  oratory,  the  peo- 
ple were  given  to  understand  that  the  same  yard-stick  that 
they  employed  upon  others  would  be  employed  upon  them- 
selves. Measure  others  by  a  harsh  rule,  and  you  will  be 
measured  by  a  harsh  rule.  Measure  others  by  a  charitable 
rule  and  you  will  be  measured  by  a  charitable  rule.  Give  no 
mercy  to  others,  and  no  mercy  will  be  given  to  you.  "With 
what  measure  ye  mete,  it  shall  be  measured  to  you  again." 
There  is  a  great  deal  of  unfairness  in  the  criticism  of  human 
conduct.  It  was  to  smite  that  unfairness  that  Christ  uttered 
these  words  and  I  wish  to  re-echo  the  divine  sentiment.  In 
estimating  the  misbehavior  of  others  we  must  take  into  con- 
sideration the  pressure  of  circumstances.  It  is  never  right 
to  do  wrong,  but  there  are  degrees  of  culpability.  When 
men  misbehave  or  commit  some  atrocious  wickedness  we  are 
disposed  indiscriminately  to  tumble  them  all  over  the  bank 
of  condemnation.  Suffer  they  ought  and  suffer  they  must, 
but  in  difference  of  degree. 

In  the  first  place,  in  estimating  the  misdoing  of  others, 
we  must  take  into  calculation  the  hereditary  tendency.  Thece 
is  such  a  thing  as  good  blood,  and  there  is  such  a  thing  as 
bad  blood.  There  are  families  that  have  had  a  moral  twist 
in  them  for  one  hundred  years  back.  They  have  not  been 
careful  to  keep  the  family  record  in  that  regard.    There  have 

(489) 


490  RETRIBUTION  OR  HARD  THOUGHTS. 

been  escapades  and  maraudings,  and  scoundrelisms  and 
moral  deficits  all  the  way  back,  whether  you  call  it  klepto- 
mania, or  pyromania,  or  dipsomania,  or  whether  it  be  in  a 
milder  form  and  amount  to  no  mania  at  all.  The  strong 
probability  is  that  the  present  criminal  started  life  with  nerve, 
muscle  and  bone  contaminated.  As  some  start  life  with  a 
natural  tendency  to  nobility  and  generosity,  and  kindness  and 
truthfulness,  there  are  others  who  start  life  with  just  the 
opposite  tendency,  and  they  are  born  liars,  or  born  malcon- 
tents, or  born  outlaws,  or  born  swindlers.  There  is  in 
England  a  school  that  is  called  the  Princess  Mary  school. 
All  the  children  in  that  school  are  the  children  of  convicts. 
The  school  is  supported  by  high  patronage.  I  had  the  pleasure 
of  being  present  at  one  of  their  anniversaries,  in  1879,  pre- 
sided over  by  the  Earl  of  Kintore.  By  a  wise  law  in  England, 
after  parents  have  committed  a  certain  number  of  crimes, 
and  thereby  shown  themselves  incompetent  rightly  to  bring 
up  their  children,  the  little  ones  are  taken  from  under  per- 
nicious influences  and  put  in  reformatory  schools,  where  all 
gracious  and  kindly  influences  shall  be  brought  upon  them. 
Of  course  the  experiment  is  young,  and  it  has  got  to  be 
demonstrated  how  large  a  percentage  of  the  children  of  con- 
victs may  be  brought  up  to  respectability  and  usefulness.  But 
we  all  know  that  it  is  more  difficult  for  children  of  bad 
parentage  to  do  right  than  for  children  of  good  parentage. 

In  this  country  we  are  taught  by  the  Declaration  of 
American  Independence,  that  all  people  are  born  equal. 
There  never  was  a  greater  misrepresentation  put  in  one  sen- 
tence than  in  that  sentence  which  implies  that  we  are  all  born 
equal.  You  may  as  well  say  that  flowers  are  born  equal  or 
trees  are  born  equal,  or  animals  are  born  equal.  Why  does 
one  horse  cost  one  hundred  dollars  and  another  horse  cost 
five  thousand  dollars?  Why  does  one  sheep  cost  ten  dollars 
and  another  sheep  cost  five  hundred  dollars?  Difference  in 
blood.    We  are  wise  enough  to  recognize  the  difference  of 


RETRIBUTION  OF  HARD  THOUGHTS. 


491 


blood  in  horses,  in  cattle,  in  sheep,  but  we  are  not  wise  enough 
to  make  allowance  for  the  difference  in  the  human  blood. 
Now  I  demand  by  the  law  of  eternal  fairness  that  you  be 
more  lenient  in  your  criticism  of  those  who  were  born  wrong, 
in  whose  ancestral  line  there  was  a  hangman's  knot,  or  who 
came  from  a  tree  the  fruit  of  which  for  centuries  has  been 
gnarled  and  worm-eaten.  Dr.  Harris,  a  reformer,  gave  some 
marvelous  statistics  in  his  story  of  what  he  called  "Margaret, 
the  Mother  of  Criminals."  Ninety  years  ago  she  lived  in  a 
village  in  upper  New  York  State.  She  was  not  only  poor, 
but  she  was  vicious.  She  was  not  well  provided  for. 
There  were  no  almshouses  there.  The  public,  however, 
somewhat  looked  after  her,  but  chiefly  scoffed  at  her,  and 
derided  her,  and  pushed  her  farther  down  in  her  crimes. 
That  was  ninety  years  ago.  There  have  been  six  hundred 
and  twenty-three  persons  in  that  ancestral  line,  two  hundred 
of  them  criminals.  In  one  branch  of  that  family  there  were 
twenty,  and  nine  of  them  have  been  in  State  Prison,  and 
nearly  all  of  the  others  have  turned  out  badly.  It  is  esti- 
mated that  that  family  cost  the  county  and  State  one  hundred 
thousand  dollars,  to  say  nothing  of  the  property  they  de- 
stroyed. Are  you  not  willing,  as  sensible  people,  to  acknowl- 
edge that  it  is  a  fearful  disaster  to  be  born  in  such  an  ances- 
tral line?  Does  it  not  make  a  great  difference  whether  one 
descends  from  Margaret,  the  mother  of  criminals,  or  from 
some  mother  in  Israel?  whether  you  are  the  son  of  Ahab,  or 
the  son  of  Joshua?  It  is  a  very  different  thing  to  swim  with 
the  current,  from  what  it  is  to  swim  against  the  current.  If 
a  man  find  himself  in  an  ancestral  current  where  is  good 
blood  flowing  smoothly  from  generation  to  generation,  it  is 
not  a  very  great  credit  to  him  if  he  turn  out  good  and  honest, 
and  pure  and  noble.  He  could  hardly  help  it.  But  suppose 
he  is  born  in  an  ancestral  line,  in  an  hereditary  line,  where 
the  influences  have  been  bad,  and  there  has  been  a  coming 
down  over  moral  declivity,  if  the  man  surrender  to  the 


492 


RETRIBUTION  OF  HARD  THOUGHTS. 


influences  he  will  go  down  under  the  overmastering  gravita- 
tion unless  some  supernatural  aid  be  afforded  him.  Now, 
such  a  person  deserves  not  your  excoriation,  but  your  pity. 
Do  not  sit  with  the  lip  curled  in  scorn,  and  with  an  assumed 
air  of  angelic  innocence  looking  down  upon  such  moral  pre- 
cipitation. You  had  better  get  down  on  your  knees  and  first 
pray  Almighty  God  for  their  rescue,  and  next  thank  the 
Lord  that  you  have  not  been  thrown  under  the  wheels  of  that 
juggernaut.  In  Great  Britain  and  in  the  United  States,  in 
every  generation,  there  are  tens  of  thousands  of  persons  who 
are  fully  developed  criminals  and  incarcerated.  I  say  in 
every  generation.  Then,  I  suppose  there  are  tens  of  thous- 
ands of  persons  not  found  out  in  their  criminality.  In 
addition  to  these  there  are  tens  of  thousands  of  persons,  who 
not  positively  becoming  criminals,  nevertheless  have  a  crim- 
inal tendency.  Any  one  of  all  those  thousands  by  the  grace 
of  God  may  become  Christian,  and  resist  the  ancestral  in- 
fluence, and  open  a  new  chapter  of  behavior;  but  the  vast 
majority  of  them  will  not,  and  it  becomes  all  men,  profes- 
sional, unprofessional,  ministers  of  religion,  judges  of  courts, 
philanthropists  and  Christian  workers,  to  recognize  the  fact 
that  there  are  these  Atlantic  and  Pacific  surges  of  hereditary 
evil  rolling  on  through  the  centuries. 

A  man  can  resist  this  tendency,  just  as  in  the  ancestral 
line  mentioned  in  the  first  chapter  of  Matthew.  You  see  in 
the  same  line  in  which  there  was  a  wicked  Eehoboam  and  a 
desperate  Manasses,  there  afterward  came  a  pious  Joseph 
and  a  glorious  Christ.  But,  my  readers,  you  must  recognize 
the  fact  these  influences  go  on  from  generation  to  generation. 
I  am  glad  to  know,  however,  that  a  river,  which  has 
produced  nothing  but  miasma  for  one  hundred  miles, 
may  after  awhile  turn  the  wheels  of  factories  and  help  sup- 
port industrious  and  virtuous  populations;  and  there  are 
family  lines  which  were  poisoned  that  are  a  benediction  now. 
At  the  last  day  it  will  be  found  out  that  there  are  men  who 


RETRIBUTION  OF'  HARD  THOUGHTS. 


493 


have  gone  clear  over  into  all  forms  of  iniquity  and  plunged 
into  other  abandonment,  who,  before  they  yielded  to  the  first 
temptation,  resisted  more  evil  than  many  a  man  who  has 
been  moral  and  upright  all  his  life.    But  supposing  now, 
that  in  this  age  when  there  are  so  many  good  people,  that  I 
select  the  very  best  man  in  it.    I  do  not  mean  the  man  who 
would  style  himself  the  best,  for  probably  he  is  a  hypocrite ; 
but  I  mean  the  man  who  before  God  is  really  the  best.    1  will 
take  you  out  from  your  Christian  surroundings.    I  will 
take  you  back  to  boyhood.    I  will  put  you  in  a  depraved 
home.    I  will  put  you  in  a  cradle  of  iniquity.    Who  is  that 
bending  over  that  cradle?    An  intoxicated  mother.    Who  is 
that  swearing  in  the  next  room?  Your  father.  The  neighbors 
come  in  to  talk,  and  their  jokes  are  unclean.    There  is  not 
in  the  house  a  Bible  or  moral  treatise,  but  only  a  few  scraps 
of  an  old  pictorial.     After  awhile  you  are  old  enough  to  get 
out  of  the  cradle,  and  you  are  struck  across  the  head  for 
naughtiness,  but  never  in  any  kindly  manner  reprimanded. 
After  awhile  you  are  old  enough  to  go  abroad,  and  you  are 
sent  out  with  a  basket  to  steal.    If  you  come  home  without 
any  spoil  you  are  whipped  until  the  blood  comes.    At  fifteen 
years  of  age  you  go  out  to  fight  your  own  battles  in  this 
world,  which  seems  to  care  no  more  for  you  than  the  dog 
that  died  of  a  fit  under  the  fence.    You  are  kicked  and  cuffed 
and  buffeted.    Some  day,  rallying  your  courage,  you  resent 
some  wrong.    A  man  says :    "  Who  are  you  ?    I  know  who 
you  are.    Your  father  had  free  lodgings  in  prison.  Your 
mother  was  up  for  drunkenness  at  the  Criminal  Court.  Get 
out  of  my  way,  you  low-lived  wretch!"  My  brother,  suppose 
that  had  been  the  history  of  your  advent,  and  the  history  of 
your  earlier  surroundings,  would  you  have  been  the  Christian 
man  you  are  to-day?    I  tell  you  nay.    You  would  have  been 
a  vagabond,  an  outlaw,  a  murderer  on  the  scaffold  atoning 
for  your  crime.    All  these  considerations  ought  to  make  us 
merciful  in  our  dealings  with  the  wandering  and  the  lost. 


494 


RETRIBUTION  OF  HARD  THOUGHTS. 


In  our  estimate  of  the  misdoings  of  people  who  have 
fallen  from  high  respectability  and  usefulness,  we  must  take 
into  consideration  the  conjunction  of  circumstances.  In 
nine  cases  out  of  ten  a  man  who  goes  astray  does  not  intend 
any  positive  wrong.  He  has  trust  funds.  He  risks  a  part  of 
these  funds  in  investment.  He  says:  "  Now,  if  I  should 
lose  that  investment  I  have  my  own  property,  five  times  as 
much,  and  if  this  investment  should  go  wrong  I  could  easily 
make  it  up;  I  could  five  times  make  it  up."  With  that 
wrong  reasoning  he  goes  on  and  makes  the  investment,  and 
it  does  not  turn  out  quite  so  well  as  he  expected,  and  he 
makes  another  investment,  and  strange  to  say,  at  the  time 
all  his  other  affairs  get  entangled,  and  all  his  other  resources 
fail,  and  his  hands  are  tied.  Now  he  wants  to  extricate  him- 
self. He  goes  a  little  farther  on  in  the  wrong  investment. 
He  takes  a  plunge  further  ahead,  for  he  wants  to  save  his 
wife  and  children,  he  wants  his  home,  he  wants  to  save  his 
membership  in  the  church.  He  takes  one  more  plunge  and  all 
is  lost.  Some  morning  at  ten  o'clock  the  bank  door  is  not 
opened,  and  there  is  a  card  on  the  door  signed  by  an  officer 
of  the  bank,  indicating  there  is  trouble,  and  the  name  of  the 
defaulter  or  defrauder  heads  the  newspaper  column.  Under 
these  conditions  hundreds  of  men  say,  ' ' Good  for  him; 
hundreds  of  othermen  say:  "I'm  glad  he's  found  out  atlast;" 
hundreds  of  other  men  say:  "Just  as  I  told  you;"  hundreds 
of  other  men  say:  "We  couldn't  possibly  have  been  tempted 
to  do  that — no  conjunction  of  circumstances  could  ever  have 
overthrown  me;"  and  there  is  a  superabundance  of  indigna- 
tion, but  no  pity.  The  heavens  full  of  lightning,  but  not 
one  drop  of  dew.  If  God  treated  us  as  society  treats  that 
man  we  would  all  have  been  in  hell  long  ago!  Wait  for  the 
alleviating  circumstances.  Perhaps  he  may  have  been  the 
dupe  of  others.  Before  you  let  all  the  hounds  out  from  their 
kennel  to  maul  and  tear  that  man,  find  out  if  he  has  not 
been  brought  up  in  a  commercial  establishment  where  there 


RETRIBUTION  OF  HARD  THOUGHTS. 


495 


was  a  wrong  system  of  ethics  taught ;  find  out  whether  that 
man  has  not  an  extravagant  wife,  who  is  not  satisfied  with 
his  honest  earnings,  and  in  the  temptation  to  please  her 
he  has  gone  into  that  ruin  into  which  enough  men  have 
fallen,  and  by  the  same  temptation,  to  make  a  procession  of 
many  miles.  Perhaps  some  sudden  sickness  may  have 
touched  his  brain  and  his  judgment  may  be  unbalanced.  He 
is  wrong;  he  is  awfully  wrong,  and  he  must  be  condemned, 
but  there  may  be  mitigating  circumstances.  Perhaps  under 
the  same  temptation  you  might  have  fallen.  The  reason  some 
men  do  not  steal  two  hundred  thousand  dollars  is  because 
they  do  not  get  a  chance!  Have  righteous  indignation  you 
must  about  that  man's  conduct,  but  temper  it  with  mercy. 
But  you  say:  " I  am  sorry  that  the  innocent  should  suffer." 
Yes,  I  am  too — sorry  for  the  widows  and  orphans  who  lost 
their  all  by  that  defalcation.  I  am  sorry  also  for  the  business 
men,  the  honest  business  men,  who  have  had  their  affairs  all 
crippled  by  that  defalcation.  I  am  sorry  for  that  venerable 
bank  president  to  whom  the  credit  of  that  bank  was  a  matter 
of  pride.  Yes,  I  am  sorry  also  for  that  man  who  brought  all 
the  distress;  sorry  that  he  sacrificed  body,  mind,  soul,  rep- 
utation, heaven,  and  went  into  the  blackness  of  darkness 
forever." 

You  defiantly  say:  "I  could  not  be  tempted  in  that  way." 
Perhaps  you  may  be  tested  after  awhile.  God  has  a  very 
good  memory,  and  he  sometimes  seems  to  say:  "This  man 
feels  so  strong  in  his  innate  power  and  goodness  he  shall  be 
tested ;  he  is  so  full  of  bitter  invective  against  that  unfor- 
tunate it  shall  be  shown  now  whether  he  has  the  power  to 
stand."  Fifteen  years  go  by.  The  wheel  of  fortune  turns 
several  times,  and  you  are  in  a  crisis  that  you  never  could 
have  anticipated.  Now,  all  the  powers  of  darkness  come 
around,  and  they  chuckle,  and  they  chatter,  and  they  say: 
"Aha !  here  is  the  old  fellow  who  was  so  proud  of  his  integrity, 
and  who  bragged  he  couldn't  be  overthrown  by  temptation, 


496 


RETRIBUTION  OF  HA.RD  THOUGHTS. 


and  was  so  uproarious  in  his  demonstrations  of  indignation 
at  the  defalcation  fifteen  years  ago.  Let  us  see."  God  lets 
the  man  go.  God,  who  had  kept  that  man  under  His  protect- 
ing care,  let  the  man  go,  and  try  for  himself  the  majesty  of 
his  integrity.  God  letting  the  man  go,  the  powers  of  dark- 
ness pounce  upon  him.  I  see  you  some  day  in  your  office  in 
great  excitement.  One  of  two  things  you  can  do.  Be  honest, 
and  be  pauperized,  and  have  your  children  brought  home 
from  school,  your  family  dethroned  in  social  influence.  The 
other  thing  is,  you  can  step  a  little  aside  from  that  which  is 
right,  you  can  only  just  go  half  an  inch  out  of  the  proper 
path,  you  can  only  take  a  little  risk,  and  then  you  have  all 
your  finances  fair  and  right.  You  have  a  large  property. 
You  can  leave  a  fortune  for  your  children,  and  endow  a  col- 
lege, and  build  a  public  library  in  your  native  town.  You 
halt  and  wait,  and  halt  and  wait  until  your  lips  get  white. 
You  decide  to  risk  it.  Only  a  few  strokes  of  the  pen  now. 
But,  oh,  how  your  hand  trembles,  how  dreadfully  it  trembles! 
The  die  is  cast.  By  the  strangest  and  most  awful  conjunc- 
tion of  circumstances  any  one  could  have  imagined,  you  are 
prostrated.  Bankruptcy,  commercial  annihilation,  exposure, 
crime.  Good  men  mourn  and  devils  hold  carnival,  and  you 
see  your  own  name  at  the  head  of  the  newspaper  column  in 
a  whole  congress  of  exclamation  points ;  and  while  you  are 
reading  the  anathema  in  the  reportorial  and  editorial  para- 
graph, it  occurs  to  you  how  much  this  story  is  like  that  of 
the  defalcation  of  fifteen  years  ago,  and  a  clap  of  thunder 
shakes  the  window-sill,  saying:  "With  what  measure  ye 
mete,  it  shall  be  measured  to  you  again!" 

You  look  in  another  direction.  There  is  nothing  like  an 
ebullition  of  temper  to  put  a  man  to  disadvantage.  You,  a 
man  with  calm  pulses  and  a  fine  digestion  and  perfect 
health,  can  not  understand  how  anybody  should  be  capsized 
in  temper  by  an  infinitesimal  annoyance.  You  say:  "I 
couldn't  be  unbalanced  in  that  way."    Perhaps  you  smile  at 


RETRIBUTION  OF  HARD  THOUGHTS. 


497 


a  provocation  that  makes  another  man  swear.  You  pride 
yourself  on  your  imperturbability.  You  say  with  your  man- 
ner, though  you  have  too  much  good  taste  to  say  it  with  your 
words:  "I  have  a  great  deal  more  sense  than  that  man  has; 
I  have  a  great  deal  more  equipoise  of  temper  than  that  man 
has;  I  never  could  make  such  a  puerile  exhibition  of  myself 
as  that  man  has  made."  You  do  not  realize  that  that  man 
was  born  with  a  keen  nervous  organization,  that  for  forty 
years  he  has  been  under  a  depleting  process,  that  sickness 
and  trouble  have  been  helping  undo  what  was  left  of  original 
healthfulness,  that  much  of  his  time  it  has  been  with  him 
like  filing  saws,  that  his  nerves  have  come  to  be  merely  a 
tangle  of  disorders,  and  that  he  is  the  most  pitiable  object  on 
earth  who,  though  he  is  very  sick,  does  not  look  sick,  and 
nobody  sympathizes.  Let  me  see.  Did  you  not  say  that 
you  could  not  be  tempted  to  an  ebullition  of  temper?  Some 
September  you  come  home  from  your  summer  watering-place 
and  you  have  inside,  away  back  in  your  liver  or  spleen,  what 
we  call  in  our  day  malaria,  but  what  the  old  folks  called 
chills  and  fever.  You  take  quinine  until  your  ears  are  first 
buzzing  beehives  and  then  roaring  Niagaras.  You  take  roots 
and  herbs,  you  take  everything.  You  get  well.  But  the 
next  day  you  feel  uncomfortable,  and  you  yawn,  and  you 
stretch,  and  you  shiver,  and  you  consume,  and  you  suffer. 
Vexed  more  than  you  can  tell,  you  can  not  sleep,  and 
you  can  not  eat,  you  can  not  bear  to  see  anything  that 
looks  happy,  you  go  out  to  kick  the  cat  that  is  asleep  in 
the  sun.  Your  children's  mirth  was  once  music  to  you;  now 
it  is  deafening.  You  say:  "Boys,  stop  that  racket!"  You 
turnback  from  June  to  March.  In  the  family  and  in  the 
neighborhood  your  popularity  is  ninety-five  per  cent  off.  The 
world  says:  "What  is  the  matter  with  that  disagreeable 
man?  What  a  woe-begone  countenance !  I  can't  bear  the 
sight  of  him."  You  have  got  your  pay  at  last — got  your  pay. 
You  feel  just  as  the  man  felt,  that  man  for  whom  you  had 


498 


RETRIBUTION  OF  HARD  THOUGHTS. 


no  mercy:  "With  what  measure  ye  mete,  it  shall  be  measured 
to  you  again. " 

In  the  study  of  society  I  have  come  to  this  conclusion, 
that  the  most  of  the  people  want  to  be  good,  but  they  do  not 
exactly  know  how  to  make  it  out.  They  make  enough  good 
resolutions  to  lift  them  into  angelhood.  The  vast  majority  of 
people  who  fall  are  victims  of  circumstances;  they  are  cap- 
tured by  ambuscade.  If  their  temptations  should  come  out 
in  a  regiment  and  fight  them  in  a  fair  field,  they  would  go  out 
in  the  strength  and  the  triumph  of  David  against  Goliath. 
But  they  do  not  see  the  giant,  and  they  do  not  see  the  regi- 
ment. Suppose  temptation  should  come  up  to  a  man  and  say: 
"Here  is  alcohol;  take  three  tablespoonfuls  of  it  a  day  until 
you  get  dependent  upon  it ;  then  after  that  take  half  of  a 
glass  three  times  a  day  until  you  get  dependent  upon  that 
amount,  then  go  on  increasing  the  amount  until  you  are  sat- 
urated from  morning  until  night  and  from  night  until  morn- 
ing.' '  Do  you  suppose  any  man  would  become  a  drunkard 
in  that  way?  Oh,  no!  Temptation  comes  and  says:  "Take 
these  bitters,  take  this  nervine,  take  this  aid  to  digestion, 
take  this  night- cap."  The  vast  majority  of  men  and  women 
who  are  destroyed  by  opium  and  by  rum  first  take  them  as 
medicines.  In  making  up  your  dish  of  criticism  in  regard  to 
them,  take  from  the  caster  the  cruet  of  sweet  oil,  and  not  the 
cruet  of  cayenne  pepper.  Be  easy  on  them.  Do  you  know 
how  that  physician,  that  lawyer,  that  journalist  became  the 
victim  of  dissipation?  Why  the  physician  wTas  kept  up  night 
by  night  on  professional  duty.  Life  and  death  hovered  in 
the  balance.  His  nervous  system  was  exhausted.  There 
came  a  time  of  epidemic,  and  whole  families  were  prostrated, 
and  his  nervous  strength  was  gone.  He  was  all  worn  out  in 
the  service  of  the  public.  Now  he  must  brace  himself  up. 
Now  he  stimulates.  The  life  of  this  mother,  the  life  of  this 
child,  the  life  of  this  father,  the  life  of  this  whole  family 
must  be  saved,  and  of  all  these  families  must  be  saved,  and 


RETRIBUTION  OF  HARD  THOUGHTS.  499 

he  stimulates,  and  he  does  it  again  and  again.  You  may 
criticize  his  judgment,  but  remember  the  process.  It  was 
not  a  selfish  process  by  which  he  went  down.  It  was  mag- 
nificent generosity  through  which  he  fell.  That  attorney  at 
the  bar  for  weeks  has  been  standing  in  a  poorly-ventilated 
court-room,  listening  to  the  testimony  and  contesting  in  the 
dry  technicalities  of  the  law,  and  now  the  time  has  come  for 
him  to  wind  up,  and  he  must  plead  for  the  life  of  his  client, 
and  his  nervous  system  is  all  gone.  If  he  fails  in  that 
speech  his  client  perishes.  If  he  have  eloquence  enough 
m  that  hour  his  client  is  saved.  He  stimulates.  He 
must  keep  up.  He  says:  "  I  must  keep  up."  Having 
a  large  practice  you  see  how  he  is  enthralled.  You  may 
criticize  his  judgment,  but  remember  the  process.  Do 
not  be  hard.  That  journalist  has  had  exhausting  midnight 
work.  He  has  had  to  report  speeches  and  orations  that  keep 
him  up  till  a  very  late  hour.  He  has  gone  with  much 
exposure  working  up  some  case  of  crime  in  company  with  a 
detective.  He  sits  down  at  midnight  to  write  out  his  notes 
from  a  memorandum  scrawled  on  a  pad  under  unfavorable 
circumstances.  His  strength  is  gone.  Fidelity  to  the  public 
intelligence, fidelity  to  his  own  livelihood  demand  that  lie 
keep  up.  He  must  keep  up.  He  stimulates.  Again  and 
again  he  does  that,  and  he  goes  down.  You  may  criticize  his 
judgment  in  the  matter,  but  have  mercy.  Eemember  the 
process.    Do  not  be  hard 

This  truth  will  come  to  fulfillment  in  some  cases  in  this 
world.  The  huntsman  in  Farmsteen  was  shot  by  some 
unknown  person.  Twenty  years  after  the  son  of  the  same 
huntsman  was  in  the  same  forest,  and  he  accidentally  shot  a 
man,  and  the  man  in  dying  said:  "God  is  just;  I  shot  your 
father  just  here  twenty  years  ago."  A  bishop  said  to  Louis 
XI.  of  France :  "  Make  an  iron  cage  for  all  those  who  do 
not  think  as  we  do — an  iron  cage  in  which  the  captive  can 
neither  lie  down  nor  stand  straight  up."    It  was  fashioned— 


500 


RETRIBUTION  OF  HARD  THOUGHTS. 


the  awful  instrument  of  punishment.  After  awhile  the  bishop 
offended  Louis  XI.,  and  for  fourteen  years  he  was  in  that 
same  cage,  and  could  neither  lie  down  nor  stand  up.  It  is  a 
poor  rule  that  will  not  work  both  ways. 

Oh,  my  readers,  let  us  be  resolved  to  scold  less  and  pray 
more.  That  which  in  the  Bible  is  used  as  the  symbol  of  all 
gracious  influences  is  the  dove,  not  the  porcupine.  We  may 
so  unskilfully  manage  the  lifeboat  that  we  shall  run  down 
those  whom  we  want  to  rescue.  The  first  preparation  for 
Christian  usefulness  is  warm-hearted  common-sense,  practical 
sympathy  for  those  whom  we  want  to  save.  What  headway 
will  we  make  in  the  judgment  if  in  this  world  we  have  been 
hard  on  those  who  have  gone  astray?  What  headway  will 
you  and  I  make  in  the  last  great  judgment,  when  we  must 
have  mercy  or  perish?  The  Bible  says:  "They  shall  have 
judgment  without  mercy  that  showed  no  mercy."  I  see  the 
scribes  of  heaven  looking  up  into  the  face  of  such  a  man, 
saying:  "What!  you  plead  for  mercy!  you  whom  in  all  your 
life  never  had  any  mercy  on  your  fellows!  Don't  you 
remember  how  hard  you  were  in  your  opinions  of  those  who 
were  astray?  Don't  you  Remember  when  you  ought  to  have 
given  a  helping  hand  you  employed  a  hard  heel?  Mercy! 
You  must  mis-  speak  yourself  when  you  plead  for  mercy  here. 
Mercy  for  others,  but  no  mercy  for  you."  "  Look,"  say  the 
scribes  of  heaven,  "look  at  that  inscription  over  the  throne 
of  judgment — the  throne  of  God's  judgment."  See  it  coming 
out,  letter  by  letter,  word  by  word,  sentence  by  sentence, 
until  your  startled  vision  reads  it,  and  your  remorseful  spirit 
appropriates  it:  "With  what  measure  ye  mete  it  shall  be 
measured  to  you  again.    Depart,  ye  cursed." 


CHAPTER  XXXIX. 


SPIRITUALISM. 

We  are  surrounded  by  mystery.  Before  us,  behind  us,  to 
the  right  of  us,  to  the  left  of  us,  mystery.  There  is  a  vast 
realm  unexplored,  that  science,  I  have  no  doubt,  will  yet  map 
out.  He  who  explores  that  realm  will  do  the  world  more 
service  than  did  ever  a  Columbus  or  an  Amerigo  Vespucci. 
There  are  so  many  things  that  can  not  be  accounted  for,  so 
many  sounds  and  appearances  which  defy  acoustics  and  inves- 
tigation, so  many  things  approximating  to  the  spectral,  so 
many  effects  which  do  not  seem  to  have  a  sufficient  cause. 
The  wall  between  the  spiritual  and  the  material  is  a  very 
thin  wall. 

That  there  are  communications  between  this  world  and 
the  next  world  there  can  be  no  doubt,  the  spirits  of  our  de- 
parted going  from  this  world  to  that,  and,  according  to  the 
Bible,  ministering  spirits  coming  from  that  to  this.  I  do  not 
know  but  that  some  time  there  may  be  complete,  and  con 
stant,  and  unmistakable  lines  of  communication  opened 
between  this  world  and  the  next.  To  unlatch  the  door 
between  the  present  state  and  the  future  state  all  the  fingers 
of  superstition  have  been  busy.  We  have  books  entitled 
"Footfalls  on  the  Boundaries  of  Other  Worlds,"  "The  Debat- 
able Land  Between  this  World  and  the  Next,"  "Besearches 
into  the  Phenomena  of  Spiritualism,"  and  whole  libraries  of 
hocus-pocus,  enough  to  deceive  the  very  elect. 

Modern  Spiritualism  proposes  to  open  the  door  between 
this  world  and  the  next,  and  put  us  into  communication  with 
the  dead.    It  has  never  yet  offered  one  reasonable  credential. 

(501) 


502 


SPIRITUALISM. 


There  is  nothing  in  the  intelligence  or  the  character  of  the 
founders  of  Spiritualism  to  commend  it.  All  the  wonderful 
things  performed  by  Spiritualism  have  been  performed  by 
sleight-of-hand  and  rank  deception.  Dr.  Carpenter,  Eobert 
Houdin,  Mr.  Waite  and  others  have  exposed  the  fraud  by 
dramatizing  in  the  presence  of  audiences  the  very  things  that 
Spiritualism  proposes  to  do  or  says  it  has  done.  In  the  New 
York  Independent  there  is  an  account  of  a  challenge  given  by 
a  non- Spiritualist  to  a  Spiritualist  to  meet  him  on  the  plat- 
form of  Tremont  Temple,  Boston.  The  non -Spiritualist 
declared  that  he  would  by  sleight-of-hand  perform  all  the 
feats  executed  by  the  Spiritualist.  They  met  in  the  presence 
of  an  audience.  The  Spiritualist  went  through  his  wonderful 
performances,  and  the  other  man  by  sleight-of-hand  did  the 
same  things. 

" By  their  fruits  ye  shall  know  them,"  is  the  test  that 
Christ  gave,  and  by  that  test  I  conclude  that  the  tree  of 
Spiritualism  which  yields  bad  fruit,  and  bad  fruit  continually, 
is  one  of  the  worst  trees  in  all  the  orchard  of  necromancy. 
The  postoffice  which  it  has  established  between  the  next  world 
and  this  is  another  Star  Boute  postoffice,  kept  up  at  vast 
expense  without  ever  having  delivered  one  letter  from  the 
other  world  to  this. 

Spiritualism  is  a  very  old  doctrine.  Do  you  want  to 
know  the  origin  and  the  history  of  that  which  has  captured 
so  many  in  all  our  towns  and  cities,  a  doctrine  with  which 
i  ome  of  you  are  tinged?  Spiritualism  in  America  was  born 
in  1847,  in  Hydesville,  Wayne  county,  New  York,  where  one 
night  there  was  a  rapping  at  the  door  of  Michael  Weekman, 
and  a  second  rapping  at  the  door,  and  a  third  rapping  at  the 
door,  and  every  time  the  door  was  opened,  there  was  no  one 
there.  Proof  positive  that  they  were  invisible  knuckles  that 
rapped  at  the  door.  In  that  same  house  there  was  a  man  who 
felt  a  cold  hand  pass  over  his  forehead,  and  there  was  no  arjn 
attached  to  the  hand.    Proof  positive  it  was  spiritualistic  in- 


SPIRITUALISM. 


503 


fluence.  After  a  while,  Mr.  Fox  with  his  family  moved  into 
that  house,  and  then  they  had  hangings  at  the  door  every 
night.  One  night  Mr.  Pox  cried  out:  "Are  you  a  spirit?"  Two 
raps — answer  in  the  affirmative.  "  Are  you  an  injured  spirit?" 
Two  raps — answer  in  the  affirmative.  Then  they  knew  right 
away  that  it  was  the  spirit  of  a  peddler  who  had  been  mur- 
dered in  that  house  years  before,  and  who  had  been  robbed  of 
his  five  hundred  dollars.  Whether  the  spirit  of  the  peddler 
came  back  to  collect  his  five  hundred  dollars  or  his  bones  I 
do  not  know.  But  from  that  time  on  there  was  a  constant 
excitement  around  the  premises,  and  the  excitement  spread 
all  over  the  land.  All  these  are  matters  of  history.  People 
said:  "Well,  now,  we  have  a  new  religion."  Ah!  it  is  not  a 
new  religion. 

In  all  ages  there  have  been  necromancers,  those  who  con- 
sulted with  the  spirits  of  the  departed — charmers  who  threw 
people  into  a  mesmeric  state,  sorcerers  who  by  eating  poi- 
sonous herbs  can  see  everything,  hear  everything,  and  tell 
everything,  astrologers  who  found  out  a  new  dispensation  of 
the  stars,  experts  in  palmistry  who  can  tell  by  the  lines  in 
the  palm  of  your  hand  your  origin,  your  history  and  your 
destiny.  From  the  cavern  on  Mount  Parnassus  it  is  said 
there  came  up  an  atmosphere  that  intoxicated  the  sheep  and 
the  goats  that  came  near  by,  and  under  its  influence  the 
shepherds  were  lifted  into  exaltation  so  they  could  foretell 
future  events  and  consult  with  familiar  spirits.  Long  before 
the  time  of  Christ  the  Brahmins  had  all  the  table  rocking 
and  the  table  quaking. 

You  want  to  know  what  God  thinks  of  all  these  things. 
He  says  in  one  place,  "I  will  be  a  swift  witness  against  the 
sorcerers."  He  says  in  another  place,  "Thou  shalt  not 
suffer  a  witch  to  live."  And  lest  you  should  make  too  wide  a 
margin  between  Spiritualism  and  witchcraft,  he  groups  them 
together,  and  says:  "There  shall  not  be  found  among  you 
any  consulter  with  familiar  spirits,  or  a  wizard,  or  a  necro- 


504 


SPIRITUALISM. 


mancer,  for  all  that  do  these  things  are  an  abomination  unto 
the  Lord."  And  then  the  still  more  remarkable  passage, 
which  says:  "The  soul  that  turneth  after  such  as  have 
familiar  spirits,  and  after  wizards,  to  go  a  whoring  after 
them,  I  will  even  set  my  face  against  that  soul,  and  will  cut 
him  off  from  among  his  people;"  and  a  score  of  passages 
showing  that  God  never  speaks  of  these  evils  in  any  other 
way  than  with  living  thunders  of  indignation. 

Spiritualism  takes  advantage  of  people  when  they  are 
weak  and  morbid  with  trouble.  We  lose  a  friend.  The 
house  is  dark,  the  world  is  dark,  the  future  seems  dark.  If 
we  had  in  our  rebellion  and  in  our  weakness  the  power  to 
marshal  a  host  and  recapture  our  loved  one  from  the  next 
world,  we  would  marshal  the  host.  Oh,  how  we  long  to 
speak  with  the  dead !  Spiritualism  comes  in  at  that  moment, 
when  we  are  all  worn  out,  perhaps  by  six  weeks'  or  two 
months'  watching,  all  worn  out  body,  mind,  and  soul,  and 
says,  "Now  I  will  open  the  door,  you  shall  hear  the  voices; 
take  your  place  around  the  table;  all  be  quiet  now."  Five 
minutes  pass  along ;  no  response  from  the  next  world.  Ten 
minutes,  fifteen  minutes,  twenty  minutes.  Nervous  system 
all  the  time  more  and  more  agitated.  Thirty  minutes ;  no 
response  from  the  next  world.  Forty  minutes  pass,  and  the 
table  begins  to  shiver.  Then  the  medium  sits  down,  his 
hand  twitching,  and  the  pen  and  the  ink  and  the  paper 
having  been  provided,  he  writes  out  the  message  from  the 
next  world. 

What  is  remarkable  is  that  these  spirits,  after  being  in 
the  illumination  of  heaven,  some  of  them  for  years,  forget 
how  to  spell  right.  People  who  were  excellent  grammarians 
come  back,  and  with  their  first  sentence  smash  all  the  laws 
of  English  grammar!  I  received  such  a  letter.  I  happened 
to  know  the  man  that  signed  it.  It  was  a  miserably  spelled 
letter.  I  sent  it  back  with  the  remark.  "You  just  send 
word  to  those  spirits  they  had  better  go  to  school  and 


SPIRITUALISM. 


505 


study  orthography."  It  comes  in  time  of  weakness,  and 
overthrows  the  soul.  Now,  just  think  of  spirits  enthroned 
in  heaven  coming  down  to  crawl  under  a  table,  and  break 
crockery,  and  ring  the  bell  before  supper  is  ready,  and  rattle 
the  shutters  on  a  gusty  night.  What  consolation  in  such 
miserable  stuff  as  compared  with  the  consolation  of  our 
departed  friends  free  from  toil,  and  sin,  and  pain,  and  for- 
ever happy,  and  that  we  will  join  them,  not  in  mysterious 
and  half  utterances,  which  make  the  hair  stand  on  end,  and 
make  cold  chills  creep  up  and  down  the  back,  but  in  a 
reunion  most  blessed,  and  happy,  and  glorious. 

Oh,  I  hate  Spiritualism,  because  it  takes  advantage  of 
people  when  they  are  weak,  and  worn  out,  and  morbid  under 
the  bereavements  and  sorrows  of  this  life.  It  is  also  an 
affair  of  the  night.  The  Davenports,  the  Foxes,  the  Fowlers, 
and  all  the  mediums  prefer  the  night,  or  if  it  is  in  the  day- 
time, a  darkened  room.  Why?  Because  deception  is  more 
successful  in  the  night.  Some  of  the  things  done  in  Spiritu- 
alism are  not  frauds,  but  are  to  be  ascribed  to  some  occult 
law  of  nature  which  will  after  a  while  be  demonstrated;  but 
nine  hundred  and  ninety-nine  out  of  a  thousand  of  their  feats 
are  arrant  and  unmitigated  humbug. 

I  suppose  almost  every  one  sometime  has  been  touched  by 
some  hallucination.  Indigestion  from  a  late  supper  generally 
accounts  for  it.  If  you  will  only  take  in  generous  propor- 
tions at  eleven  o'clock  at  night,  lobster  salad  and  mince-pie 
and  ice-cream  and  lemonade  and  a  little  cocoanut,  you  will 
be  able  to  see  fifty  materialized  spirits.  All  the  mediums  of 
the  past  did  their  work  in  the  night.  Witch  of  Endor  held 
her  seance  in  the  night.  Deeds  of  darkness.  Away  with 
this  religion  of  spooks! 

Spiritualism  ruins  the  physical  health.  Look  in  upon  an 
audience  of  Spiritualists.  Cadaverous,  pale,  worn  out,  ex- 
hausted. Hands  cold  and  clammy.  Nothing  prospers  but 
long  hair — soft  marshes  yielding  rank  grass.  Something 


506 


SPIRITUALISM. 


startling  going  through  that  room,  clothed  in  white.  Table 
fidgety  as  though  to  get  its  feet  loose  and  dance.  Voices 
sepulchral.  Kappings  mysterious.  I  never  knew  a  confirmed 
Spiritualist  who  had  a  healthy  nervous  organization.  It  is 
the  first  stages  of  epilepsy  or  catalepsy.  I  have  noticed  that 
people  who  hear  a  great  many  rappings  from  the  next  world 
have  not  much  strength  to  endure  the  hard  raps  of  this. 

What  a  sin  it  is  to  be  trifling  with  your  nervous  system. 
Get  your  nervous  system  out  of  tune  and  the  whole  universe 
is  out  of  tune  as  far  as  you  are  concerned.  Better  tamper 
with  the  chemist's  retort  that  may  smite  you  dead,  or  with 
engineer's  steam  boiler  that  may  blow  you  to  atoms,  than 
trifle  with  your  nerves.  You  can  live  without  eyes,  and  with 
one  lung  and  with  no  hands  and  no  feet.  Be  happy  as  men 
have  been  happy  in  such  misfortune;  but  alas!  if  your 
nervous  system  is  gone. 

Spiritualism  is  a  marital  and  social  curse.  Deeds  of 
darkness  and  orgies  of  obscenity  have  transpired  under  its 
wing.  I  cannot  tell  you  the  story.  I  will  not  pollute  my 
tongue  or  your  ears  with  the  recital.  Enough  to  know  that 
the  criminal  courts  have  often  been  called  to  stop  the  crim- 
inality. How  many  families  have  been  broken  up  throughout 
the  United  States !  Women  by  the  hundreds  have  by  Spirit- 
ualism been  pushed  off  into  a  life  of  profligacy.  It  employs 
all  that  phraseology  about  "spiritual  affinities, "  and  "affinital 
relation, "  and  "spiritual  matches,"  and  the  whole  vocabulary 
of  free  love.  It  is  at  war  with  the  marriage  relation.  I 
quote  from  one  of  their  prominent  papers  where  it  says : 
"Marriage  is  the  monster  curse  of  civilization."  The  Spirit- 
ualist paper  goes  on  to  say:  "  Marriage  controls  education, 
is  the  fountain  of  selfishness,  the  cause  of  intemperance  and 
debauchery,  the  source  and  aggravation  of  poverty,  the 
prolific  mother  of  disease  and  crime.  The  society  we  want 
is  men  and  women  living  in  freedom,  sustaining  themselves 
by  their  own  industry,  dealing  with  each  other  in  equity* 


SPIRITUALISM. 


507 


respecting  each  other's  sovereignty,  and  governed  by  their 
attractions. " 

If  Spiritualism  had  full  swing  it  would  turn  this  world 
into  a  pandemonium  of  carnality.  It  is  an  unclean  and 
an  adulterous  religion,  and  the  sooner  it  goes  down  to  the  pit 
from  wThich  it  came  up,  the  better  for  earth  and  heaven.  For 
the  sake  of  man's  honor  and  woman's  purity,  let  it  perish. 
I  wish  I  could  gather  up  all  the  raps  it  has  ever  heard  from 
spirits  blest  or  damned  on  its  own  head  in  one  thundering  rap 
of  annihilation. 

This  belief  in  Spiritualism  produces  insanity.  There  is 
not  an  asylum  from  Bangor  to  San  Francisco  where  there  are 
not  the  torn  and  bleeding  victims  of  Spiritualism.  You  go 
into  an  asylum  and  say:  "What  is  the  matter  with  this 
man?"  The  doctors  will  tell  you  again  and  again,  "Spirit- 
ualism demented  him."  "What  is  the  matter  with  this 
woman'?"  "Spiritualism  demented  her."  They  have  been 
carried  off  into  mental  midnight — senators,  judges  of  courts — 
and  at  one  time  they  came  near  capturing  a  President  of  the 
United  States.  At  Flushing,  Long  Island,  there  was  a  happy 
home.  The  father  became  infatuated  with  Spiritualism,  for- 
sook his  home,  took  the  fifteen  thousand  dollars,  the  only 
fifteen  thousand  dollars  he  had,  surrendered  them  to  a  New 
York  medium,  three  times  attempted  to  take  his  own  life,  and 
then  was  sent  to  the  State  lunatic  asylum.  You  put  your  hand 
in  the  hand  of  this  influence  and  it  will  lead  you  down  to 
darkness,  eternal  darkness,  where  Spiritualism  holds  an  ever- 
lasting seance. 

You  remember  the  steamer  Atlantic  started  from  Europe 
for  America.  After  it  had  been  out  long  enough  to  get  to 
the  middle  of  the  ocean,  the  machinery  broke,  and  for  days 
and  weeks  the  steamer  Atlantic  tossed  about  in  the  waves. 
There  were  many  friends  of  the  passengers  who  said,  "  That 
vessel  has  gone  down;  it  is  a  month  since  she  was  due;  that 
vessel  must  have  sunk."    There  were  wives  who  went  to 


508 


SPIRITUALISM. 


spiritual  mediums  to  learn  the  fate  of  that  vessel.  The 
spirits  were  gathered  around  the  table  and  they  said  that 
vessel  had  gone  to  the  bottom  with  all  on  board.  Some  of 
those  women  went  to  the  insane  asylum  and  passed  the  rest 
of  their  lives.  But  one  day,  off  quarantine,  a  gun  was 
heard.  Flags  went  up  on  all  the  shipping,  bells  were  rung, 
newsboys  ran  through  the  streets  shouting:  "Extra!  The 
Atlantic  safe ! "  The  vessel  came  to  wharf,  and  there  was 
embracing  of  long-absent  ones;  but  some  of  these  men  went 
up  to  the  insane  asylum  to  find  their  wives  incarcerated  by 
this  foul  cheat  of  hell,  Spiritualism. 

What  did  Judge  Edmonds  say  in  Broadway  Tabernacle, 
New  York,  while  making  argument  in  behalf  of  Spiritualism, 
himself  having  been  fully  captured.  "What  did  Judge  Ed- 
monds say?  He  admitted  this:  "There  is  a  fascination  about 
consultation  with  the  spirits  of  the  dead  that  has  a  tendency 
to  lead  people  off  from  their  right  judgment,  and  to  instil  into 
them  a  fanaticism  that  is  revolting  to  the  natural  mind." 

It  not  only  ruins  its  disciples  but  it  ruins  its  mediums. 
No  sooner  had  the  Gadarean  swine  on  the  banks  of  Galilee 
become  spiritual  mediums  than  they  went  down  in  an  ava- 
lanche of  pork  to  the  consternation  of  all  the  herdsmen. 
Spiritualism  bad  for  a  man,  bad  for  a  woman,  bad  for  a 
beast. 

It  ruins  the  soul.  It  first  makes  a  man  quarter  of  an 
infidel,  then  it  makes  him  half  an  infidel,  then  it  makes  him 
a  full  infidel.  The  whole  system  is  built  on  the  insufficiency 
of  the  Bible  as  a  revelation.  If  God  is  ever  struck  square  in 
the  face  it  is  when  men  sit  at  a  table,  put  their  hands  on  the 
table  and  practically  say:  "Come,  you  spirits  of  the  departed, 
and  make  revelation  in  regard  to  the  future  world  which  the 
Bible  has  not  made.  Come,  father;  come,  mother,  companion 
in  life,  my  children,  come,  tell  me  something  about  that 
future  world  which  the  Bible  is  not  able  to  tell  me." 
Although  the  Bible  says  he  that  adds  a  word  to  it  shall  be 


SPIRITUALISM. 


509 


found  a  liar,  men  are  all  the  time  getting  these  revelations, 
or  trying  to  get  them  from  the  next  world.  You  will  either, 
my  reader,  have  to  give  up  the  Bible  or  give  up  Spiritualism. 
No  one  ever  for  a  very  great  length  of  time  kept  both  of  them. 


CHAPTER  XL. 


A  WASTED  LIFE. 

Isaiah  gives  a  description  of  the  idolatry  and  worldliness 
of  people  in  his  time,  and  of  a  very  prevalent  style  of  diet 
in  our  time.  The  world  spreads  a  great  feast  and  invites  the 
race  to  sit  at  it.  Platters  are  heaped  up.  Chalices  are  full. 
Garlands  wreathe  the  wall.  The  guests  sit  down  amid  out- 
bursts of  hilarity.  They  take  the  fruit  and  it  turns  into 
ashes.  They  uplift  the  tankards  and  their  contents  prove 
to  be  ashes.  They  touch  the  garlands  and  they  scatter  into 
ashes.  I  do  not  know  any  passage  of  Scripture  which  so 
apothegmatically  sets  forth  the  unsatisfactory  nature  of  this 
world  for  eye,  and  tongue,  and  lip,  and  heart  as  this  partic- 
ular passage,  describing  the  votary  of  the  world,  when  it 
says:    "He  feedeth  on  ashes." 

I  shall  not  take  the  estimate  by  those  whose  life  has  been 
a  failure.  A  man  may  despise  the  world  simply  because  he 
cannot  win  it.  Having  failed,  in  his  chagrin,  he  may  decry 
that  which  he  would  like  to  have  had  as  his  bride.  I  shall, 
therefore, '  take  only  the  testimony  of  those  who  have  been 
magnificently  successful.  In  the  first  place,  I  shall  ask  the 
kings  of  the  earth  to  stand  up  and  give  testimony,  telling  of 
the  long  story  of  sleepless  nights,  and  poisoned  cups,  and 
threatened  invasion,  and  dreaded  rebellion.  Ask  the  Georges, 
ask  the  Henrys,  ask  the  Marys,  ask  the  Louises,  ask  the 
Catherines,  whether  they  found  the  throne  a  safe  seat,  and 
the  crown  a  pleasant  covering.  Ask  the  French  guillotine 
in  Madame  Tussaud's  Museum  about  the  queenly  necks  it  has 
dissevered.    Ask  the  Tower  of  London  and  its  headsman's 

(510) 


512 


A  WASTED  LIFE. 


block.  Ask  the  Tuileries,  and  Henry  VIII. ,  and  Cardinal 
Woolsey  to  rise  out  of  the  dust,  and  say  what  they  think  of 
worldly  honors.  Ghastly  with  the  first  and  the  second 
death,  they  rise  up  with  eyeless  sockets  and  grinning  skel- 
etons, and  stagger  forth,  unable  at  first  to  speak  at  all,  but 
afterward  hoarsely  whispering :  "Ashes!  ashes!" 

I  call  up  also  a  group  of  commercial  adepts  to  give  testi- 
mony; and  here  again,  those  who  have  been  only  moderately 
successful  may  not  testify.  All  the  witnesses  must  be  mil- 
lionaires. What  a  grand  thing  it  must  be  to  own  a  railroad, 
to  control  a  bank,  to  possess  all  the  houses  on  one  street,  to 
have  vast  investments  tumbling  in  upon  you  day  after  day, 
whether  you  work  or  not.  No;  no.  William  B.  Astor,  a 
few  days  before  his  death,  sits  in  his  office  in  New  York, 
grieving  almost  until  he  is  sick,  because  rents  have  gone  down. 
A.  T.  Stewart  finds  his  last  days  full  of  foreboding  and  doubt. 
When  a  Christian  man  proposes  to  talk  to  him  about  the 
matters  of  the  soul,  he  cries :  "  Go  away  from  me !  Go  away 
from  me;"  not  satisfied  until  the  man  has  got  outside  the 
door.  Come  up,  ye  millionaires,  from  various  cemeteries  and 
graveyards,  and  tell  us  now  what  you  think  of  banks,  and 
mills,  and  factories,  and  counting-houses,  and  marble  palaces, 
and  presidential  banquets.  They  stagger  forth  and  lean 
against  the  cold  slab  of  the  tomb,  mouthing  with  toothless 
gums  and  gesticulating  with  fleshless  hands  and  shivering 
with  the  chill  of  sepulchral  dampness,  while  they  cry  out : 
"Ashes!" 

I  must  call  up  now,  also,  a  group  of  sinful  pleasurists, 
and  here  again  I  will  not  take  the  testimony  of  those  who 
had  the  more  ordinary  gratifications  of  life.  Their  pleasures 
are  pyramidal.  They  bloomed  paradisiacally.  If  they  drank 
wine,  it  must  be  the  best  that  was  ever  pressed  from  the  vine- 
yards of  Hockheimer.  If  they  listened  to  music,  it  must  be 
costliest  opera,  with  renowned  prima  donna.  If  they  sinned, 
they  chased  polished  uncleannesses  and  graceful  despair  and 


A   WASTED  LIFE. 


513 


glittering  damnation.  Stand  up,  Alcibiades  and  Aaron  Burr 
and  Lord  Byron  and  Queen  Elizabeth — what  think  you  now 
of  midnight  revel  and  sinful  carnival  and  damask  curtained 
abomination?  Answer!  The  color  goes  out  of  the  cheek, 
the  dregs  serpent-twisted  in  the  bottom  of  the  wine  cup,  the 
bright  lights  quenched  in  blackness  of  darkness,  they  jingle 
together  the  broken  glasses,  and  rend  the  faded  silks,  and  shut 
the  door  of  the  deserted  banqueting-hall,  while  they  cry:  "A 
wasted  life." 

There  are  a  great  many  who  try  to  feed  their  soul  on 
infidelity  mixed  with  truth.  They  say  the  Bible  has  good 
things  in  it,  but  it  is  not  inspired.  They  say  Christ  was  a 
good  man,  but  He  was  not  inspired,  and  their  religion  is  made 
up  of  ten  degrees  of  humanitarianism  and  ten  degrees  of 
transcendentalism  and  ten  degrees  of  egotism  with  one  degree 
of  Gospel  truth,  and  on  a  poor,  miserable  cud  they  make 
their  immortal  soul  chew,  while  the  meadows  of  God's  word 
are  green  and  luxuriant  with  well-watered  pastures.  Did  you 
ever  see  a  happy  infidel?  Did  you  ever  meet  a  placid  sceptic? 
Did  you  ever  find  a  contented  atheist?  Not  one.  From  the 
days  of  Gibbon  and  Voltaire  down,  not  one.  They  quarrel 
about  God.  They  quarrel  about  the  Bible.  They  quarrel 
about  each  other.  They  quarrel  with  themselves.  They  take 
all  the  divine  teachings  and  gather  them  together,  and  under 
them  they  put  the  fires  of  their  own  wit,  and  scorn,  and  sarcasm, 
and  then  they  dance  in  the  light  of  that  blaze,  and  they  scratch 
amid  the  rubbish  for  something  with  which  to  help  them  in 
the  days  of  trouble,  and  something  to  comfort  them  in  the  days 
of  death,  finding  for  their  distraught  and  destroyed  souls,  noth- 
ing. Voltaire  declared:  "This  globe  seems  to  me  more  like 
a  collection  of  carcases  than  of  men.  I  wish  I  had  never 
been  born."  Hume  says:  "I  am  like  a  man  who  has  run  on 
rocks  and  quicksands,  and  yet  I  contemplate  putting  out  on 
the  sea  in  the  same  leaky  and  weather-beaten  craft.' '  Ches- 
terfield says :  "I  have  been  behind  the  scenes,  and  I  have 


514 


A  WASTED  LIFE. 


noticed  the  clumsy  pulleys  and  the  dirty  ropes  hy  which  all 
the  scene  is  managed,  and  I  have  seen  and  smelt  the  tallow 
candles  which  throw  the  illumination  on  the  stage,  and  I  am 
tired  and  sick."  Get  up,  then,  Francis  Newport,  and  Hume, 
and  Voltaire,  and  Tom  Paine,  and  all  the  infidels  who  have 
passed  out  of  this  world  into  the  eternal  world — get  up  now 
and  tell  what  you  think  of  all  your  grandiloquent  derision  at 
our  holy  religion.  What  do  you  think  now  of  all  your  sar- 
casm at  holy  things?  They  come  shrieking  up  from  the  lost 
world  to  the  graveyards  where  their  bodies  were  entombed, 
and  point  down  to  the  white  dust  of  dissolution,  and  cry: 
"A  wasted  life." 

Oh,  what  a  mistake  for  an  immortal  soul.  What  is 
that  unrest  that  sometimes  comes  across  you!  Why  is 
it  that,  surrounded  by  friends,  and  even  the  luxuries  of 
life,  you  wish  you  were  somewhere  else,  or  had  some- 
thing you  have  not  yet  gained?  The  world  calls  it  ambi- 
tion. The  physicians  call  it  nervousness.  Your  friends 
call  it  the  fidgets.  I  call  it  hunger — deep,  grinding,  unap- 
peasable hunger.  It  starts  with  us  when  we  are  horn,  and 
goes  on  with  us  until  the  Lord  God  himself  appeases  it.  It 
is  seeking  and  delving  and  striving  and  planning  to  get 
something  we  cannot  get.  Wealth  says:  "It  is  not  in  me." 
Science  says:  "It  is  not  in  me."  Worldly  applause  says: 
"It  is  not  in  me."  Sinful  indulgence  says:  "It  is  not  in 
me."  Where  then  is  it?  On  the  banks  of  what  stream? 
Slumbering  in  what  grotto?  Marching  in  what  contest? 
Expiring  on  what  pillow?  Tell  me,  for  this  winged  and 
immortal  spirit,  is  there  nothing? 

In  communion  with  God,  and  everlasting  trust  of  Him, 
is  complete  satisfaction.  Solomon  described  it  when  he  com- 
pared it  to  cedar  houses  and  golden  chairs  and  bounding 
reindeer  and  day-break  and  imperial  couch ;  to  saffron,  to 
calamus,  to  white  teeth,  and  hands  heavy  with  gold  rings, 
and  towers  of  ivory  and  ornamental  figures;  but  Christ  calls 


A  WASTED  LIFE. 


515 


it  bread!  0  famished  yet  immortal  soul,  why  not  come  and 
get  it?  Until  our  sins  are  pardoned,  there  is  no  rest.  We 
know  not  at  what  moment  the  hounds  may  bay  at  us.  We 
are  in  a  castle  and  know  not  what  hour  it  may  be  besieged; 
but  when  the  soothing  voice  of  Christ  comes  across  our  per- 
turbation, it  is  hushed  forever.  A  merchant  in  Antwerp 
loaned  Charles  V.  a  vast  sum  of  money,  taking  for  it  a  bond. 
One  day  this  Antwerp  merchant  invited  Charles  V.  to  dine 
with  him,  and  while  they  were  seated  at  the  table,  in  the 
presence  of  the  guests,  the  merchant  had  a  fire  built  on  a 
platter  in  the  center  of  the  table.  Then  he  took  the  bond 
which  the  King  had  given  him  for  the  vast  sum  of  money, 
and  held  it  in  the  blaze  until  it  was  consumed,  and  the  King 
congratulated  himself,  and  all  the  guests  congratulated  the 
King.  There  was  gone  at  last  the  final  evidence  of  his 
indebtedness.  Mortgaged  to  God,  we  owe  a  debt  we  can 
never  pay;  but  God  invites  us  to  the  Gospel  feast,  and  in 
the  fires  of  crucifixion  agony  He  puts  the  last  record  of  our 
indebtedness,  and  it  is  consumed  forever.  It  was  so  in  the 
case  of  the  dying  thief  expiring  in  dark  despair,  with  the 
judgment  to  come  staring  him  in  the  face,  and  the  terrors  of 
hell  laying  hold  of  his  soul.  He  had  faith  in  the  Crucified 
One,  and  his  faith  won  for  him  an  immediate  entrance  into 
paradise. 

Oh,  to  have  all  the  sins  of  our  past  forgiven,  and  to  have 
all  possible  security  for  the  future — is  not  that  enough  to 
make  a  man  happy?  What  makes  that  old  Christian  so 
placid?  Most  of  his  family  lie  in  the  village  cemetery.  His 
health  is  undermined.  His  cough  will  not  let  him  sleep  at 
night.  From  the  day  he  came  to  town  and  he  was  a  clerk, 
until  this  the  day  of  his  old  age,  it  has  been  a  hard  fight  for 
bread.  Yet  how  happy  he  looks.  Why?  It  is  because  he 
feels  that  the  same  God  who  watched  him  when  he  lay  in  his 
mother's  arms  is  watching  him  in  the  time  of  old  age,  and 
unto  God  he  has  committed  all  his  dead,  expecting  after 


516 


A  WASTED  LIFE. 


a- while  to  see  them  again.  He  has  no  anxiety  whether  he  go 
this  summer  or  next  summer — whether  he  be  carried  out 
through  the  snowbanks  or  through  the  daisies.  Fifty  years 
ago  he  learned  that  all  this  world  could  give  was  ashes,  and 
he  reached  up  and  took  the  fruits  of  eternal  life.  You  see 
his  face  is  very  white  now.  The  crimson  currents  of  life 
seem  to  have  departed  from  it ;  but  under  that  extreme  white- 
ness of  the  old  man's  face  is  the  flash  of  the  day-break. 

There  is  only  one  word  in  all  our  language  that  can  de- 
scribe his  feelings,  and  that  is  the  word  that  slipped  off  the 
angel's  harp  above  Bethlehem — peace!  And  so  there  are 
hundreds  of  souls  who  have  felt  this  Almighty  comfort.  Their 
reputation  was  pursued;  their  health  shattered;  their  home 
was  almost  if  not  quite  broken  up ;  their  fortune  went.  Why 
do  they  not  sit  down  and  give  it  up.  Ah,  they  have  no  disposi- 
tion to  do  that.  They  are  saying  while  I  speak :  "It  is  my 
Father  that  mixes  this  bitter  cup,  and  I  will  cheerfully  drink 
it.  Everything  will  be  explained  after  awhile.  I  shall  not 
always  be  under  the  harrow.  There  is  something  that  makes 
me  think  I  am  almost  home.  God  will  yet  wipe  away  all 
tears  from  my  eyes."  So  say  these  bereft  parents.  So 
say  these  motherless  children.  So  say  a  great  many  to- 
night. 

Now,  am  I  not  right  in  trying  to  persuade  all  to  give  up 
ashes,  and  take  bread,  to  give  up  the  unsatisfactory  things  of 
this  world,  and  take  the  glorious  things  of  God  and  eternity? 
Why,  if  you  kept  this  world  as  long  as  it  lasts,  you  would 
have,  after  awhile,  to  give  it  up.  There  will  be  a  great  fire 
breaking  out  from  the  sides  of  the  hills ;  there  will  be  falling 
flame  and  ascending  flame,  and  in  it  the  earth  will  be 
whelmed.  Fires  burning  from  within,  out;  fires  burning 
from  above,  down;  this  earth  will  be  a  furnace,  and  then  it 
will  be  a  living  coal,  and  then  it  will  be  an  expiring  ember, 
and  the  thick  clouds  of  smoke  will  lessen  and  lessen  until 
there  will  be  only  a  faint  vapor  curling  up  from  the  ruins, 


A  WASTED  LIFE. 


517 


and  then  the  very  last  spark  of  the  earth  will  go  out.  And  I 
see  two  angels  meeting  each  other  over  the  gray  pile,  and  as 
one  flits  past  it,  he  cries,  " Ashes!"  and  the  other,  as  he 
sweeps  down  the  immensity,  will  respond,  "Ashes!"  while 
all  the  infinite  space  will  echo  and  re-echo,  "Ashes!  Ashes! 
Ashes!"  God  forbid  that  we  should  choose  such  a  mean 
portion. 

My  fear  is,  not  that  you  will  not  see  the  superiority  of 
Christ  to  this  world,  but  my  fear  is  that  through  some  dread- 
ful infatuation,  you  will  relegate  to  the  future  that  which 
God  and  angels,  and  churches  militant  and  triumphant  de- 
clare that  you  ought  to  do  now.  I  do  not  say  that  you  will 
go  out  of  this  world  by  the  stroke  of  a  horse's  hoof,  or  that 
you  will  fall  through  a  hatchway,  or  that  a  plank  may  slip 
from  an  insecure  scaffolding  and  dash  your  life  out,  or  that 
a  bolt  may  fall  on  you  from  an  August  thunder-storm;  but  I 
do  say  that,  in  the  vast  majority  of  cases,  your  departure 
from  the  world  will  be  wonderfully  quick ;  and  I  want  you 
to  start  on  the  right  road  before  that  crisis  has  plunged. 

A  Spaniard,  in  a  burst  of  temper,  slew  a  Moor.  Then 
the  Spaniard  leaped  over  a  high  wall  and  met  a  gardener, 
and  told  him  the  whole  story;  and  the  gardener  said:  "I 
will  make  a  pledge  of  confidence  with  you.  Eat  this  peach 
and  that  will  be  a  pledge  that  I  will  be  your  protector  to  the 
last."  But,  oh,  the  sorrow  and  surprise  of  the  gardener 
when  he  found  out  that  it  was  his  own  son  that  had  been 
slain!  Then  he  came  to  the  Spaniard  and  said  to  him:  "You 
were  cruel,  you  ought  to  die,  you  slew  my  son,  and  yet  I  took 
a  pledge  with  you,  and  I  must  keep  my  promise;  and  so  he 
took  the  Spaniard  to  the  stables  and  brought  out  the  swiftest 
horse.  The  Spaniard  sprang  upon  it  and  put  many  miles 
between  him  and  the  scene  of  crime,  and  perfect  escape  was 
effected. 

We  have,  by  our  sins,  slain  the  Son  of  God.  Is  there  any 
possibility  of  our  rescue?    Oh,  yes.    God  the  Father  says  to 


518 


A  WASTED  LIFE. 


us:  " You  had  no  business,  by  your  sin,  to  slay  my  Son, 
Jesus ;  you  ought  to  die,  but  I  have  promised  you  deliverance. 
I  have  made  you  the  promise  of  eternal  life,  and  you  shall 
have  it.  Escape  now  for  thy  life.' '  And  to-night  I  act  merely 
as  the  Lord's  groom,  and  I  bring  you  out  to  the  King's  sta- 
bles, and  I  tell  you  to  be  quick  and  mount,  and  away.  In 
this  plain  you  perish,  but  housed  in  God  you  live.  Oh,  you 
pursued  and  almost  overtaken  one,  put  on  'more  speed. 
Fly !  fly !  lesfc  the  black  horse  outrun  the  white  horse,  and 
the  battle-axe  shiver  the  helmet  and  crash  down  through  the 
insufficient  mail.  In  this  tremendous  exigency  of  your  im- 
mortal spirit  beware,  lest  you  prefer  ashes  to  bread. 


CHAPTER  XLL 


OFF  THE  TRACK. 

With  an  insight  into  human  nature  such  as  no  other  man 
ever  reached,  Solomon  sketches  the  mental  operations  of  one 
who,  having  stepped  aside  from  the  path  of  rectitude,  desires 
to  return.  With  a  wish  for  something  better  he  said: 
"When  shall  I  awake?  When  shall  I  come  out  of  this  horrid 
nightmare  of  iniquity ?"  But  seized  upon  by  uneradicated 
habit  and  forced  down  hill  by  his  passions,  he  cries  out:  "I 
will  seek  it  yet  again.  I  will  try  it  once  more."  Our  libra- 
ries are  adorned  with  an  elegant  literature  addressed  to  young 
men,  pointing  out  to  them  all  the  dangers  and  perils  of  life — 
complete  maps  of  the  voyage,  showing  all  the  rocks,  the 
quicksands,  the  shoals.  But  suppose  a  man  has  already 
made  shipwreck ;  suppose  he  is  already  off  the  track ;  suppose 
he  has  already  gone  astray,  how  is  he  to  get  back?  That  is 
a  field  comparatively  untouched.  I  propose  to  address  this 
chapter  to  such.  There  are  those  in  the  world  who,  with 
every  passion  of  their  agonized  soul,  are  ready  to  hear  such 
a  discussion.  They  compare  themselves  with  what  they  were 
ten  years  ago,  and  cry  out  from  the  bondage  in  which  they 
are  incarcerated.  Now,  if  there  be  any  feeling  they  are 
beyond  the  pale  of  Christian  sympathy,  and  that  this  subject 
can  hardly  be  expected  to  address  them,  then,  at  this  moment, 
I  give  them  my  right  hand,  and  call  them  brother.  Look 
up.  There  is  glorious  and  triumphant  hope  for  you  yet.  I 
sound  the  trumpet  of  gospel  deliverance.  The  Church  is 
ready  to  spread  a  banquet  at  your  return,  and  the  hierarchs 
of  heaven  to  fall  into  line  of  bannered  procession  at  the  news 
of  your  emancipation. 

(519) 


520 


OFF  THE  TRACK. 


The  first  difficulty  in  the  way  of  your  return  is  the  force 
of  moral  gravitation.  Just  as  there  is  a  natural  law  which 
brings  down  to  the  earth  anything  you  throw  into  the 
air,  so  there  is  a  corresponding  moral  gravitation.  In  other 
words,  it  is  easier  to  go  down  than  it  is  to  go  up;  it  is  easier 
to  do  wrong  ihan  it  is  to  do  right.  Call  to  mind  the  com* 
rades  of  your  boyhood  days — some  of  them  good,  some  of 
them  bad — which  most  affected  you?  Call*  to  mimi  th3 
anecdotes  that  you  have  heard  in  the  last  five  or  ten  years — 
some  of  them  are  pure  and  some  of  them  impure.  Which 
the  more  easily  sticks  to  your  memory?  During  the  years  of 
your  life  you  have  formed  certain  courses  of  conduct— some 
of  them  good,  some  of  them  bad.  To  which  style  of  habit 
did  you  the,  more  easily  yield?  Ah!  my  friends,  we  have  to 
take  but  a  moment  of  self -inspection  to  find  out  that  there 
is  in  all  our  souls  a  force  of  moral  gravitation.  But  that 
gravitation  may  be  resisted.  Just  as  you  may  pick  up  from 
the  earth  something  and  hold  it  in  your  hand  toward  heaven, 
just  so,  by  the  power  of  God's  grace,  a  soul  fallen  may  be 
lifted  toward  peace,  toward  pardon,  toward  heaven.  Force 
of  moral  gravitation  in  every  one  of  us,  but  power  in  God's 
grace  to  overcome  that  force  of  moral  gravitation. 

The  next  thing  in  the  way  of  your  return  is  the  power  of 
evil  habit.  I  know  there  are  those  who  say  it  is  very  easy  for 
them  to  give  up  evil  habits.  I  do  not  believe  them.  Here  is 
a  man  given  to  intoxication.  He  knows  it  is  disgracing  his 
family,  destroying  his  property,  ruining  him,  body,  mind  and 
soul.  If  that  man,  being  an  intelligent  man,  and  loving  his 
family,  could  easily  give  up  that  habit,  would  he  not  do  so? 
The  fact  that  he  does  not  give  it  up  proves  it  is  hard  to  give 
it  up.  It  is  a  very  easy  thing  to  sail  down  stream,  the  tide 
carrying  you  with  great  force;  but  suppose  you  turn  the  boat 
up  stream,  is  it  so  easy  then  to  row  it?  As  long  as  we  yield 
to  the  evil  inclinations  in  our  hearts  and  our  bad  habits,  we 
are  sailing  down  stream ;  but  the  moment  we  try  to  turn  we 


OFF  THE  TRACK. 


525 


put  our  boat  in  the  rapids  just  above  Niagara,  and  try  to  row 
up  stream. 

Take  a  man  given  to  the  nabit  of  using  tobacco,  and  let 
him  resolve  to  stop,  and  he  finds  it  very  difficult.  Twenty- 
one  years  ago  I  quit  that  habit,  and  I  would  as  soon  dare  to 
put  my  right  hand  in  the  fire  as  once  indulge  in  it.  Why? 
Because  it  was  such  a  terrific  struggle  to  get  over  it.  Now, 
let  a  man  be  advised  by  his  physician  to  give  up  the  use  of 
tobacco.  He  goes  around  not  knowing  what  to  do  with  him- 
self. He  cannot  add  ujj  a  line  of  figures.  He  cannot  sleep 
nights.  It  seems  as  if  the  world  had  turned  upside  down. 
He  feels  his  business  is  going  to  ruin.  Where  he  was  kind 
and  obliging,  he  is  scolding  and  fretful.  The  composure 
that  characterized  him  has  given  way  to  a  fretful  restlessness, 
and  he  has  become  a  complete  fidget.  What  power  is  it  that 
has  rolled  a  wave  of  woe  over  the  earth  and  shaken  a  portent 
in  the  heavens?  He  has  tried  to  stop  smoking!  After  awhile 
he  says :  "I  am  going  to  do  as  I  please.  The  doctor  doesn't 
understand  my  case.  I'm  going  back  to  my  old  habit."  And 
he  returns.  Everything  assumes  its  usual  composure.  His 
business  seems  to  brighten.  The  world  becomes  an  attrac- 
tive place  to  live  in.  His  children,  seeing  the  difference,  hail 
the  return  of  their  father's  genial  disposition.  What  wave 
of  color  has  dashed  blue  into  the  sky,  and  greenness  into  the 
mountain  foliage,  and  the  glow  of  sapphire  into  the  sunset? 
What  enchantment  has  lifted  a  world  of  beauty  and  joy  on 
his  soul?    He  has  gone  back  to  smoking 

Oh !  the  fact  is,  as  we  all  know  in  our  own  experience, 
that  a  habit  is  a  taskmaster;  as  long  as  we  obey  it  it  does 
not  chastise  us,  but  let  us  resist  and  we  find  that  we  are  to 
be  lashed  with  scorpion  whips  and  bound  witH  ship  cable, 
and  thrown  into  the  track  of  stone -breaking  juggernauts. 
During  the  war  of  1812  there  was  a  ship  set  on  fire  just  above 
Niagara  Falls,  and  then,  cut  loose  from  its  moorings,  it  came 
on  down  through  the  night  and  tossed  over  the  falls.    It  was 


522 


OFF  THH  TRACK. 


said  to  have  been  a  scene  brilliant  beyond  all  description. 
Well,  there  are  thousands  of  men  on  fire  of  evil  habit,  com- 
ing down  through  the  rapids  and  through  the  awful  night  of 
temptation  toward  the  eternal  plunge.  Oh!  how  hard  it  is 
to  arrest  them.  Suppose  a  man  after  five,  or  ten,  or  twenty 
years  of  evil-doing,  resolves  to  do  right?  Why,  all  the  forces 
of  darkness  are  allied  against  him.  He  cannot  sleep  nights. 
He  gets  down  on  his  knees  in  the  midnight  and  cries:  "God 
help  me!"  He  bites  his  lip.  He  grinds  his  teeth.  Pie 
clinches  his  fist  in  a  determination  to  keep  his  purpose.  He 
dare  not  look  at  the  bottles  in  the  window  of  a  wine  store. 
It  was  one  long,  bitter,  exhaustive,  hand-to-hand  fight  with 
inflamed,  tantalizing  and  merciless  habit.  When  he  thinks 
he  is  entirely  free,  the  old  inclinations  pounce  upon  him  like 
a  pack  of  hounds  with  their  muzzles  tearing  away  at  the 
flanks  of  one  poor  reindeer.  In  Paris  there  is  a  sculptured 
representation  of  Bacchus,  the  god  of  revelry.  He  is  riding 
on  a  panther  at  full  leap.  Oh,  how  suggestive!  Let  every 
one  who  is  speeding  on  bad  ways  understand  he  is  not 
riding  a  docile  and  well-broken  steed,  but  he  is  riding 
a  monster,  wild  and  bloodthirsty,  going  at  a  death  leap.  How 
many  there  are  who  resolve  on  a  better  life  and  say:  "When 
shall  I  awake?"  But  seized  on  by  their  old  habits,  cry:  "I 
will  try  it  once  more;  I  will  seek  it  yet  again!" 

Years  ago  there  were  some  Princeton  students  who  were 
skating  and  the  ice  was  very  thin,  and  some  one  warned 
the  company  back  from  the  air-hole,  and  finally  warned  them 
to  leave  the  place.  But  one  young  man  with  bravado,  after 
all  the  rest  had  stopped,  cried  out:  "One  round  more!" 
He  swept  around  and  went  clown,  and  was  brought  out  a 
corpse.  My  friends,  there  are  thousands  and  tens  of  thou- 
sands of  men  losing  their  souls  in  that  way.  It  is  the  one 
round  more. 

I  have  also  to  say  that  if  a  man  wants  to  return  from 
evil  practices  society  repulses  him.    Desiring  to  reform,  he 


OFF  THE  TRACK. 


523 


says:  "Now  I  will  shake  off  my  old  associates,  and  I  will 
find  Christian  companionship."  And  he  appears  at  the 
church-door  some  Sabbath-day,  and  the  usher  greets  him 
with  a  look,  as  much  as  to  say:  "Why,  you  here?  You  are 
the  last  man  I  ever  expected  to  see  at  church !  Come  take 
this  seat  right  down  by  the  door!"  Instead  of  saying:  Good 
morning.  I  am  glad  you  are  here.  Come ;  I  will  give  you 
a  first-rate  seat  right  up  by  the  pulpit."  Well,  the  prodigal, 
not  yet  discouraged,  enters  a  prayer-meeting,  and  some 
Christian  man,  with  more  zeal  than  common-sense,  says: 
"Glad  to  see  you.  The  dying  thief  was  saved,  and  I  suppose 
there  is  mercy  for  you !"  The  young  man,  disgusted,  chilled, 
throws  himself  back  on  his  dignity,  resolved  he  never  will 
enter  the  house  of  God  again.  Perhaps,  not  quite  fully  dis- 
couraged about  reformation,  he  sidles  up  by  some  highly 
respectable  man  he  used  to  know,  going  down  the  street,  and 
immediately  the  respectable  man  has  an  errand  down  some 
other  street.  Well,  the  prodigal,  wishing  to  return,  takes 
some  member  of  a  Christian  association  by  the  hand,  or  tries 
to.  The  Christian  young  man  looks  at  him,  looks  at  the 
faded  apparel  and  the  marks  of  dissipation,  and  instead  of 
giving  him  a  warm  grip  of  the  hand,  offers  him  the  tip  end 
of  the  long  fingers  of  the  left  hand,  which  is  equal  to  striking 
a  man  in  the  face. 

Oh,  how  few  Christian  people  understand  how  much  force 
and  gospel  there  is  in  a  good,  honest  hand-shaking!  Some- 
times, when  you  felt  the  need  of  encouragement,  and  some 
Christian  man  has  taken  you  heartily  by  the  hand,  have  you 
not  felt  that  thrilling  through  every  fiber  of  your  body,  mind 
and  soul,  an  encouragement  that  was  just  what  you  needed? 
You  do  not  know  anything  at  all  about  this  unless  you  know 
when  a  man  tries  to  return  from  evil  courses  of  conduct  he 
runs  against  repulsions  innumerable.  We  say  of  some  man, 
he  lives  a  block  or  two  from  the  church  or  half  a  mile  from 
the  church.    There  are  people  in  our  crowded  cities  who  live 


524 


OFF  THE  TRACK. 


a  thousand  miles  from  the  church.  Vast  deserts  of  indiffer- 
ence between  them  and  the  house  of  God.  The  fact  is,  we 
must  keep  our  respectability  though  thousands  and  tens  of 
thousands  perish.  Christ  sat  with  publicans  and  sinners. 
But  if  there  came  to  the  house  of  God  a  man  with  marks  of 
dissipation  upon  him,  people  almost  throw  up  their  hands  in 
horror,  as  much  as  to  say:  "Isn't  it  shocking?"  How 
these  dainty,  fastidious  Christians  in  all  our  churches  are 
going  to  get  into  heaven  I  don't  know,  unless  they  have  an 
especial  train  of  cars,  cushioned  and  upholstered,  each  one 
a  car  to  himself!  They  can  not  go  with  the  great  herd  of 
publicans  and  sinners.  O  ye  who  curl  your  lip  of  scorn  at 
the  fallen,  I  tell  you  plainly,  if  you  had  been  surrounded 
by  the  same  influences,  instead  of  sitting  to-day  amid  the 
cultured,  and  the  refined,  and  the  Christian,  you  would  have 
been  a  crouching  wretch  in  stable  or  ditch,  covered  with  filth 
and  abomination !  It  is  not  because  you  are  naturally  any 
better,  but  because  the  mercy  of  God  has  protected  you. 
Who  are  you  that,  brought  up  in  Christian  circles  and 
watched  by  Christian  parentage,  you  should  be  so  hard  on 
the  fallen?  \ 

I  think  men  also  are  often  hindered  from  return  by  the 
fact  that  churches  are  too  often  anxious  about  their  member- 
ship, and  too  anxious  about  their  denomination,  and  they 
rush  out  when  they  see  a  man  about  to  give  up  his  sin  and 
return  to  God,  and  ask  him  how  he  is  going  to  be  baptized, 
whether  by  sprinkling  or  immersion,  and  what  kind  of  church 
he  is  going  to  join.  Oh,  my  friends,  it  is  a  poor  time  to 
talk  about  Presbyterian  catechisms,  and  Episcopal  liturgies, 
and  Methodist  love-feasts,  and  baptistries,  to  a  man  that  is 
coming  out  of  the  darkness  of  sin  into  the  glorious  light  of 
the  gospel.  Why,  it  reminds  me  of  a  man  drowning  in  the 
sea,  and  a  life-boat  puts  out  for  him,  and  the  man  in  the 
boat  says  to  the  man  out  of  the  boat:  "Now,  if  I  get  you 
ashore,  are  you  going  to  live  in  my  street?"    First  get  him 


OFF  THE  TRACK, 


525 


ashore,  and  then  talk  about  the  non-essentials  of  religion.  Who 
cares  what  Church  he  joins,  if  he  only  joins  Christ  and  starts 
for  heaven  ?  0,  you  ought  to  have,  my  brother,  an  illumined 
face,  and  a  hearty  grip  for  every  one  who  tries  to  turn  from 
his  evil  way.  Take  hold  of  the  same  book  with  him,  though 
his  dissipations  shake  the  book,  remembering  that  he  that 
converteth  a  sinner  from  the  error  of  his  ways  shall  save  a 
soul  from  death,  and  hide  a  multitude  of  sins.  Now,  I  have 
shown  you  these  obstacles  because  I  want  you  to  understand 
I  know  all  the  difficulties  in  the  way;  but  I  am  now  to  tell 
you  how  Hannibal  may  scale  the  Alps,  and  how  the  shackles 
may  be  unriveted,  and  how  the  paths  of  virtue  forsaken  may 
be  regained. 

First  of  all,  throw  yourself  on  God.  Go  to  him  frankly 
and  earnestly,  and  tell  him  these  habits  you  have,  and  ask 
him  if  there  is  any  help  in  all  the  resources  of  omnipotent 
love,  to  give  it  to  you.  Do  not  go  with  a  long  rigmarole 
people  call  prayer,  made  up  of  "ohs"  and  "ahs"  and  "forever 
and  forever  amens!"  Go  to  God  and  cry  for  help!  help! 
help!  and  if  you  can  not  cry  for  help  just  look  and  live.  I 
remember  in  the  late  war  I  was  at  Antietam,  and  I  went 
into  the  hospitals  after  the  battle,  and  I  said  to  a  man: 
"Where  are  you  hurt?"  He  made  no  answer,  but  held  up 
his  arm,  swollen  and  splintered.  I  saw  where  he  was  hurt. 
The  simple  fact  is,  when  a  man  has  a  wounded  soul  all  he 
has  to  do  is  to  hold  it  up  before  a  sympathetic  Lord  and  get 
it  healed.  It  does  not  take  any  long  prayer.  Just  hold  up 
the  wound.  0,  it  is  no  small  thing  when  a  man  is  nervous, 
and  weak  and  exhausted,  coming  from  his  evil  ways,  to  feel 
that  God  puts  two  omnipotent  arms  around  about  him  and 
says:  "Young  man,  I  will  stand  by  you.  The  mountains 
may  depart  and  the  hills  be  removed,  but  I  will  never  fail 
you."  And  then,  as  the  soul  thinks  the  news  is  too  good  to 
be  true,  and  can  not  believe  it,  and  looks  up  in  God's  face, 
God  lifts  his  right  hand  and  takes  an  oath,  an  affidavit,  say- 


526 


OFF  THE  TRACK. 


ing:  "As  I  live,  saith  the  Lord  God,  I  have  no  pleasure  in 
the  death  of  him  that  dieth."  Blessed  be  God  for  such  a 
gospel  as  this ! 

"Cut  the  slices  thin,"  said  the  wife  to  the  husband,  "or 
there  will  not  be  enough  to  go  all  around  for  the  children; 
cut  the  slices  thin."  Blessed  be  God,  there  is  a  full  loaf  for 
everyone  that  wants  it;  bread  enough,  and  to  spare.  No 
thin  slices  at  the  Lord's  table.  I  remember  when  the 
Master  street  Hospital,  in  Philadelphia,  was  opened,  during 
the  war,  a  telegram  came  saying:  "There  will  be  three 
hundred  wounded  men  to-night;  be  ready  to  take  care  of 
them."  And  from  my  church  there  went  in  some  twenty  or 
thirty  men  and  women  to  look  after  these  poor  wounded  fel- 
lows. As  they  came,  some  from  one  part  of  the  land,  some 
from  another,  no  one  asked  whether  this  man  was  from 
Oregon  or  Massachusetts,  or  from  Minnesota  or  from  New 
York.  There  was  a  wounded  soldier,  and  the  only  question 
was  how  to  take  off  the  rags  most  gently  and  put  on  the 
bandage,  and  administer  the  cordial.  And  when  a  soul 
comes  to  God  He  does  not  ask  wher6  you  came  from  or  what 
your  ancestry  was.  Healing  for  all  your  wounds.  Pardon 
for  all  your  guilt.    Comfort  for  all  your  troubles. 

Then,  also,  I  counsel  you,  if  you  want  to  get  back,  to  quit 
all  your  bad  associations.  One  unholy  intimacy  will  fill  your 
soul  with  moral  distemper.  In  all  the  ages  of  the  Church 
there  has  not  been  an  instance  where  a  man  kept  one  evil 
associate  and  was  reformed.  Among  the  fourteen  hundred 
million  of  the  race  not  one  instance.  Go  home  to-day,  open 
your  desk,  take  out  letter  paper,  stamp  and  envelope,  and 
then  write  a  letter  something  like  this:  My  old  companions: 
I  start  this  day  for  heaven.  Until  I  am  persuaded  you  will 
join  me  in  this,  farewell.  Then  sign  your  name  and  send 
the  letter  with  the  first  post.  Give  up  your  bad  companions, 
or  give  up  heaven.  It  is  not  ten  bad  companions  that  destroy 
a  man,  nor  five  bad  companions,  nor  three  bad  companions, 


OFF  THE  TRACK. 


527 


but  one.  What  chance  is  there  for  that  young  man  I  saw 
along  the  street,  four  or  five  young  men  with  him,  halting  in 
front  of  a  grogshop,  urging  him  to  go  in,  he  resisting, 
violently  resisting,  until  after  awhile  they  forced  him  to  go  in? 
It  was  a  summer  night,  and  the  door  was  left  open  and  I  saw 
the  process.  They  held  him  fast  and  they  put  the  cup  to  his 
lips,  and  they  forced  down  the  strong  drink.  What  chance 
is  there  for  such  a  young  man? 

I  counsel  you,  also,  seek  Christian  advice.  Every  Christian 
man  is  bound  to  help  you.  If  you  find  no  other  human  ear 
willing  to  listen  to  your  story  of  struggle,  come  to  me  and  I 
will,  by  every  sympathy  of  my  heart,  and  every  prayer,  and 
every  toil  of  my  hand,  stand  beside  you  in  the  struggle  for 
reformation;  and,  as  I  hope  to  have  my  own  sins  forgiven, 
and  hope  to  be  acquitted  at  the  judgment  seat  of  Christ,  I 
will  not  betray  you.  First  of  all,  seek  God,  then  seek 
Christian  counsel.  Gather  up  all  the  energies  of  body,  mind 
and  soul,  and  appealing  to  God  for  success,  declare  this  day 
everlasting  war  against  all  drinking  habits,  all  gaming 
practices,  all  houses  of  sin.  Half-and-half  work  will  amount 
to  nothing;  it  must  be  a  Waterloo.  Shrink  back  now,  and 
you  are  lost.  Push  on  and  you  are  saved.  A  Spartan  Gen- 
eral fell  at  the  very  moment  of  victory,  but  he  dipped  his 
finger  in  his  own  blood  and  wrote  on  a  rock  near  which  he 
was  dying:  "Sparta  has  conquered."  Though  your  struggle 
to  get  rid  of  sin  may  seem  to  be  almost  a  dearth  struggle,  you 
can  dip  your  finger  in  your  own  blood  and  write  on  the  Rock 
of  Ages:  "Victory  through  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ." 

0,  what  glorious  news  it  would  be  for  some  of  the  young 
men  of  our  cities  to  send  home  to  their  parents  in  the  country 
these  holidays  which  are  coming.  They  go  to  the  postoffice 
every  day  or  two  to  see  whether  there  are  any  letters  from 
you.  How  anxious  they  are  to  hear!  You  might  send  them 
for  a  holiday  present  this  season,  a  book  from  one  of  our 
best  publishing  houses,  or  a  complete  wardrobe  from  the 


528 


OFF  THE  TRACK. 


importer's  palace,  but  it  would  not  please  them  half  a,s  much 
as  the  news  you  might  send  home  to-morrow  that  you  had 
given  your  heart  to  God.  I  know  how  it  is  in  the  country. 
The  night  comes  on.  The  cattle  stand  under  the  rack 
through  which  burst  the  trusses  of  hay.  The  horses  just 
having  frisked  up  from  the  meadow  at  the  nightfall,  stand 
knee-deep  in  the  bright  straw  that  invites  them  to  lie  down 
and  rest.  The  perch  of  the  hovel  is  full  of  fowl,  their  feet 
warm  under  their  feathers.  In  the  old  farm  house  at  night 
no  candle  is  lighted,  for  the  flames  clap  their  hands  about 
the  great  black  log,  and  shake  the  shadow  of  the  group  up 
and  down  the  wall.  Father  and  mother  sit  there  for  half  an 
hour,  saying  nothing.  I  wonder  what  they  are  thinking  of. 
After  awhile  the  father  breaks  the  silence  and  says:  "Well, 
I  wonder  where  our  boy  is  in  town  to-night?"  And  the 
mother  answers :  "In  no  bad  place,  I  warrant  you ;  wo  always 
could  trust  him  when  he  was  home,  and  since  he  has  been 
away  there  have  been  so  many  prayers  offered  for  him  we 
can  trust  him  still."  Then  at  8  o'clock — for  they  retire  early 
in  the  country — they  kneel  down  and  commend  you  to  that 
God  who  watches  in  country  and  in  town,  on  the  land  and  on 
the  sea. 

Some  one  said  to  a  Grecian  general:  "What  was  the 
proudest  moment  in  your  life?  "  He  thought  a  moment,  and 
said :  "  The  proudest  moment  in  my  life  was  when  I 
sent  word  home  to  my  parents  that  I  had  gained  a  victory. " 
And  the  proudest  and  most  brilliant  moment  in  your  life  will 
be  the  moment  when  you  can  send  word  to  your  parents  that 
you  have  conquered  your  evil  habits  by  the  grace  of  God, 
and  become  eternal  victor.    Oh,  despise  not  parental  anxiety. 

The  time  will  come  when  you  will  have  neither  father  nor 
mother,  and  you  will  go  around  the  place  where  they  used  to 
watch  you,  and  find  them  gone  from  the  bouse,  and 
gone  from  the  field,  and  gone  from  the  neighborhood.  Cry 
as  loud  for  forgiveness  as  you  may  over  the  mound  in  the 


OFF  THE  TRACK. 


529 


churchyard,  they  will  not  answer.  Dead!  dead!  And  then 
you  will  take  out  the  white  lock  of  hair  that  was  cut  from 
your  mother's  brow  just  before  they  buried  her,  and  you  will 
take  the  cane  with  which  your  father  used  to  walk,  and  you 
will  think  and  think  and  wish  that  you  had  done  just  as  they 
wanted  you  to,  and  would  give  the  world  if  you  had  never 
thrust  a  pang  through  their  dear  old  hearts.  God  pity  the 
young  man  who  has  brought  disgrace  on  his  father's  name! 
God  pity  the  young  man  who  has  broken  his  mother's  heart! 
Better  if  he  had  never  been  born — better  if  in  the  first  hour 
of  his  life,  instead  of  being  laid  against  the  warm  bosom  of 
maternal  tenderness,  he  had  been  coffined  and  sepulchered. 
There  is  no  balm  powerful  enough  to  heal  the  heart  of  one 
who  has  brought  parents  to  a  sorrowful  grave,  and  who 
wanders  about  through  the  dismal  cemetery,  rending  the 
hair,  and  wringing  the  hands,  and  crying :  "  Mother !  Mother ! " 
Oh,  that  to-day,  by  all  the  memories  of  the  past,  and  by  all 
the  hopes  of  the  future,  you  would  yield  your  heart  to  God. 
May  your  father's  God  and  your  mother's  God  be  your  God 
forever! 


CHAP  TEE  XLIL 


LEPERS. 

Naaman  was  a  warrior  sick,  not  with  pleurisy,  nor 
rheumatism,  nor  consumptions,  but  with  a  disease  worse 
than  all  these  put  together;  a  red  mark  has  come  out  on  the 
forehead,  precursor  of  complete  disfigurement  and  dissolution. 
He,  the  commander-in-chief  of  all  the  Syrian  forces,  has  the 
leprosy!  It  is  on  his  hands,  on  his  face,  on  his  feet,  on  his 
entire  person.  The  leprosy!  Get  out  of  the  way  of  the 
pestilence !  If  his  breath  strikes  you,  you  are  a  dead  man. 
The  Commander-in-chief  of  all  the  forces  of  Syria!  And 
yet  he  would  be  glad  to  exchange  conditions  with  the  boy  at 
his  stirrup,  or  the  hostler  that  blankets  his  charger.  The 
news  goes  like  wildfire  all  through  the  realm,  and  the  people 
are  sympathetic,  and  they  cry  out:  "Is  it  possible  that  our 
great  hero  who  shot  Ahab,  and  around  whom  we  came  with 
such  vociferation  when  he  returned  from  victorious  battle — 
can  be  possible  that  our  grand  and  glorious  Naaman  has  the 
leprosy?" 

Yes.  Everybody  has  something  he  wishes  he  had  not — 
David,  an  Absalom  to  disgrace  him;  Paul,  a  thorn  to  sting 
him;  Job,  carbuncles  to  plague  him;  Samson,  a  Delilah  to 
shear  him;  Ahab,  aNaboth  to  deny  him;  Haman,  a  Mordecai 
to  irritate  him;  George  Washington,  childishness  to  afflict 
him;  John  Wesley,  a  termagant  wife  to  pester  him;  Leah, 
weak  eyes;  Pope,  a  crooked  back;  Byron,  a  club  foot;  John 
Milton,  blind  eyes;  Charles  Lamb,  an  insane  sister;  and  you, 
something  which  you  never  bargained  for  and  would  like  to 
jet  rid  of.    The  reason  of  this  is  that  God  does  not  want 

(530) 


LEPERS.  531 

this  world  to  be  too  bright;  otherwise,  we  would  always  want 
to  stay,  and  eat  these  fruits,  and  lie  on  these  lounges,  and 
shake  hands  in  this  pleasant  society.    We  are  only  in  the 


vestibule  of  a  grand  temple.  God  does  not  want  us  to  stay 
on  the  doorstep,  and  therefore  he  sends  aches  and  annoy- 
ances and  sorrows  and  bereavements  of  all  sorts  to  push  us 
on,  and  push  us  up  toward  riper  fruits  and  brighter  society 


532 


LEPERS. 


and  more  radiant  prosperities.  God  is  only  whipping  us 
ahead.  The  reason  that  Edward  Payson  and  Kobert  Hall 
had  more  rapturous  views  of  heaven  than  other  people  had 
was  because,  through  their  aches  and  pains,  God  pushed 
them  nearer  up  to  it.  If  God  dashes  out  one  of  your  pic- 
tures, it  is  only  to  show  you  a  brighter  one.  If  he  sting  your 
foot  with  gout,  your  brain  with  neuralgia,  your  tongue  with 
an  inextinguishable  thirst,  it  is  only  because  he  is  preparing 
to  substitute  a  better  body  than  you  ever  dreamed  of,  when 
the  mortal  shall  put  on  immortality.  It  is  to  push  you  on, 
and  push  you  up  toward  something  grander  and  better,  that 
God  sends  upon  you  as  he  did  upon  Naaman,  something  you 
do  not  want.  Seated  in  his  Syrian  mansion — all  the  walls 
glittering  with  the  shields  which  he  had  captured  in  battle; 
the  corridors  crowded  with  admiring  visitors  who  just  wanted 
to  see  him  once;  music  and  mirth,  and  banqueting  filling 
all  the  mansion,  from  tesselated  floor  to  pictured  ceiling — 
Naaman  would  have  forgotten  that  there  was  anything  bet- 
ter, and  would  have  been  glad  to  stay  there  ten  thousand 
years.  But  oh,  how  the  shields  dim,  and  how  the  visitors 
fly  from  the  hall,  and  how  the  music  drops  dead  from  the 
string,  and  how  the  gates  of  the  mansion  slam  shut  with 
sepulchral  bang,  as  you  read  the  closing  words  of  the  eulo- 
gium:   "He  was  a  leper!  He  was  a  leper!" 

There  was  one  person  more  sympathetic  with  General 
Naaman  than  any  other  person.  Naaman' s  wife  walks  the 
floor,  wringing  her  hands  and  trying  to  think  what  she  can 
do  to  alleviate  her  husband's  sufferings.  All  remedies  have 
failed.  The  surgeon  general  and  the  doctors  of  the  royal 
staff  have  met,  and  they  have  shaken  their  heads  as  much  as 
to  say:  "No  cure;  no  cure."  I  think  that  the  office-seekers 
had  all  folded  up  their  recommendations  and  gone  home. 
Probably  most  of  the  employes  of  the  establishment  had 
dropped  their  work  and  were  thinking  of  looking  for  some 
other  situation.    What  shall  now  become  of  poor  Naaman's 


LEPERS. 


533 


wife?  She  must  have  sympathy  somewhere.  In  her  des- 
pair she  goes  to  a  little  Hebrew  captive,  a  servant  girl  in  her 
house,  to  whom  she  tells  the  whole  story;  as  sometimes, 
when  overborne  with  the  sorrows  of  the  world,  and  finding 
no  sympathy  anywhere  else,  you  have  gone  out  and  found  in 
the  sympathy  of  some  humble  domestic — Eose,  or  Dinah,  or 
Bridget --a  help  which  the  world  could  not  give  you. 

What  a  scene  it  was !  One  of  the  grandest  women  in  all 
Syria  in  cabinet  council  with  a  waiting  maid  over  the  declin- 
ing health  of  the  mighty  General! 

44 1  know  something,"  says  the  little  captive  maid,  "I 
know  something,"  as  she  bounds  to  her  bare  feet.  "In  the 
land  from  which  I  was  stolen  there  is  a  certain  prophet 
known  by  the  name  of  Elisha,  who  can  cure  almost  every- 
thing, and  I  shouldn't  wonder  if  he  could  cure  my  master. 
Send  for  him  right  away. "  uOh,  hush!"  you  say.  44 If  the 
highest  medical  talent  in  all  the  land  cannot  cure  that  leper, 
there  is  no  need  of  your  listening  to  any  talk  of  a  servant 
girl." 

But  do  not  scoff,  do  not  sneer.  The  finger  of  that  little 
captive  maid  is  pointing  in  the  right  direction.  She  might 
have  said*  "This  is  a  judgment  on  you  for  stealing  me 
away  from  my  native  land.  Didn't  they  snatch  me  off  in  the 
night,  breaking  my  father's  and  mother's  heart?  And  many 
a  time  I  have  laid  and  cried  all  night  because  I  was  so  home- 
sick." 

Then  flushing  up  into  childish  indignation  she  might  have 
said:  44 Good  for  them;  I'm  glad  Naaman's  got  the  leprosy; 
I  wish  all  the  Syrians  had  the  leprosy."  No.  Forgetting 
her  own  personal  sorrows,  she  sympathizes  with  the  suffer- 
ing of  her  master  and  recommends  him  to  the  famous  He- 
brew prophet.  And  how  .often  it  is  that  the  finger  of  child- 
hood has  pointed  grown  persons  in  the  right  direction.  0, 
Christian  soul,  how  long  is  it  since  you  got  rid  of  the  leprosy 
of  sin?    You  say:  "Let  me  see.  It  must  be  five  years  now." 


534 


LEPERS. 


"Five  years.  Who  was  it  that  pointed  you  to  the  divine 
physician?"  "Oh,"  you  say,  "it  was  my  little  Annie,  or 
Fred,  or  Charley,  that  clambered  upon  my  knees  and  looked 
in  my  face  and  asked  me  why  I  didn't  become  a  Christian, 
and  all  the  time  stroking  my  cheek  so  I  couldn't  get  angry, 
insisted  upon  knowing  why  I  didn't  have  family  prayers." 

There  are  many  grandparents  who  have  been  brought  to 
Christ  by  their  little  grandchildren.  There  are  many  Christian 
mothers  who  had  their  attention  first  called  to  Jesus  by  their 
little  children.  How  did  you  get  rid  of  the  leprosy  of  sin? 
How  did  you  find  your  way  to  the  divine  physician?  "Oh," 
you  say,  "my  child,  my  dying  child,  with  wan  and  wasted 
finger  pointed  that  way!  Oh,  1  shall  never  forget  that  scene 
at  the  cradle  and  the  crib  that  awful  night!  It  was  hard, 
hard,  Very  hard;  but  if  that  little  one  on  its  dying  bed  had 
not  pointed  me  to  Christ,  I  don't  think  I  ever  would  have 
got  rid  of  my  leprosy. " 

Go  into  our  Sabbath-schools  and  you  will  find  hundreds 
of  little  fingers  pointing  in  the  same  direction,  toward  Jesus 
Christ  and  toward  heaven.  Years  ago  the  astronomers  cal- 
culated that  there  must  be  a  world  hanging  at  a  certain  point 
in  the  heavens,  and  a  large  prize  was  offered  for  some  one 
who  could  discover  that  world.  The  telescopes  from  the  great 
observatories  were  pointed  in  vain,  but  a  girl  at  Nantucket, 
Mass.,  fashioned  a  telescope,  and,  looking  through  it,  dis- 
covered that  star,  and  won  the  prize  and  the  admiration  of 
all  the  astronomical  world,  that  stood  amazed  at  her  genius. 
And  so  it  is  often  the  case  that  grown  people  cannot  see  the 
light,  while  some  little  child  beholds  the  star  of  pardon,  the 
star  of  hope,  the  star  of  consolation,  the  star  of  Bethlehem, 
the  morning  star  of  Jesus.  "Not  many  mighty  men,  not 
many  wise  men  are  called;  but  God  hath  chosen  the  weak 
things  of  the  world  to  confound  the  mighty;  and  base  things 
and  things  that  are  not,  to  bring  to  naught  things  that  are." 
Oh,  do  not  despise  the  prattle  of  little  children  when  they 


LEPERS. 


535 


are  speaking  about  God  and  Christ  and  heaven!  You  see 
the  way  your  child  is  pointing;  will  you  take  that  pointing 
or  wait  until  in  the  wrench  of  some  awful  bereavement  God 
shall  lift  that  child  to  another  world,  and  then  it  will  beckon 
you  upward?  Will  you  take  the  pointing  or  will  you  wait 
for  the  beckoning?  Blessed  be  God  that  the  little  Hebrew 
captive  pointed  in  the  right  direction !  Blessed  be  God  for 
the  saving  ministry  of  Christian  children !  No  wonder  the 
advice  of  this  little  Hebrew  captive  threw  all  Naaman's  man- 
sion and  Ben-hadad's  palace  into  excitement.  Good-bye. 
Naaman!  With  face  scarified  and  ridged,  and  inflamed  by 
the  pestilence,  and  aided  by  those  who  supported  him  on 
either  side,  he  staggers  out  to  the  chariot.  Hold  fast  the 
fiery  coursers  of  the  royal  stable  while  the  poor  sick  man  lifts 
his  swollen  feet  and  pain-struck  limbs  into  the  vehicle.  Bol- 
ster him  up  with  the  pillows,  and  let  him  take  a  lingering 
look  at  his  bright  apartment,  for  perhaps  the  Hebrew  captive 
may  be  mistaken,  and  the  next  time  Naaman  comes  to  that 
place  he  may  be  a  dead  weight  on  the  shoulders  of  those  who 
carry  him — an  expired  chieftain  seeking  sepulture  amid  the 
lamentations  of  an  admiring  nation.  Good-bye,  Naaman ! 
Let  the  charioteer  drive  gently  over  the  hills  of  Hermon  lest 
he  jolt  the  invalid.  Here  goes  the  bravest  man  of  all  his 
day,  a  captive  of  a  horrible  disease.  As  the  ambulance  winds 
through  the  streets  of  Damascus  the  tears  and  prayers  of  all 
the  people  go  after  the  world-renowned  invalid.  Perhaps 
you  have  had  an  invalid  go  out  from  your  house  on  a  health 
excursion.  You  know  how  the  neighbors  stood  around  and 
said.  "Ah!  he  will  never  come  back  again  alive !" 

Oh,  it  was  a  solemn  moment,  I  tell  you,  when  the  invalid 
had  departed,  and  you  went  into  the  room  to  make  the  bed, 
and  to  remove  the  medicine  phials  from  the  shelf,  and  to 
throw  open  the  shutters  so  that  the  fresh  air  might  rush  into 
the  long-closed  room.  Good-bye,  Naaman.  There  is  only 
one  cheerful  face  looking  at  him,  and  that  is  the  face  of  the 


536 


LEPERS, 


little  Hebrew  captive,  who  is  sure  he  will  get  cured,  and  who 
is  so  glad  she  helped  him.  As  the  chariot  winds  out,  and 
the  escort  of  mounted  courtiers,  and  the  mules  laden  with 
sacks  of  gold  and  silver  and  embroidered  suits  of  apparel 
went  through  the  gates  of  Damascus,  and  out  on  the  long 
way,  the  hills  of  Napthali  and  Ephraim  look  down  on  the 
procession,  and  the  retinue  goes  right  past  the  battle-fields 
where  Naaman,  in  the  days  of  his  health,  used  to  rally  his 
troops  for  fearful  onset;  and  then  the  procession  stops  and 
reclines  awhile  in  the  groves  of  olives  and  oleander,  and 
Gen.  Naaman  so  sick — and  so  very,  very  sick. 

How  the  countrymen  gaped  as  the  procession  passed; 
They  had  seen  Naaman  go  past  like  a  whirlwind  in  days  gone 
by,  and  had  stood  aghast  at  the  clank  of  his  war  equipments ; 
but  now  they  commiserate  him.  They  say:  "Poor  man,  he 
will  never  get  home  alive!  Poor  man!"  Gen.  Naaman 
wakes  up  from  a  restless  sleep  in  the  chariot,  and  he  says  to 
the  charioteer:  "How  long  before  we  shall  reach  this  Prophet 
Elisha's?"  The  charioteer  says  to  a  waysider:  "How  far 
is  it  to  Elisha's  house ?"  He  says:  "Two  miles."  Then 
they  whip  up  the  lathered  and  fagged-out  horses.  The  whole 
procession  brightens  up  at  the  prospect  of  speedy  arrival. 
They  drive  up  to  the  door  of  the  prophet.  The  charioteers 
shout  "Whoa!"  to  the  horses,  and  the  tramping  hoofs  and 
grinding  wheels  cease  shaking  the  earth. 

Come  out,  Elisha,  come  out;  you  have  company;  the 
grandest  company  that  ever  came  to  your  house  has  come  to 
it  now.  No  stir  inside  Elisha's  house.  The  fact  was,  the 
Lord  had  informed  Elisha  that  the  sick  captain  was  coming 
and  just  how  to  treat  him.  Indeed,  when  you  are  sick  and 
the  Lord  wants  you  to  get  well,  he  always  tells  the  doctor  how 
to  treat  you;  and  the  reason  we  have  so  many  bungling 
doctors  is  because  they  depend  upon  their  own  strength  and 
instructions  and  not  on  the  Lord  God,  and  that  always  makes 
malpractice.    Come  out,  Elisha,  and  attend  to  your  business. 


LEPERS. 


537 


Gen.  Naaman  and  his  retinue  waited,  and  waited,  and  waited. 
The  fact  was,  Naaman  had  two  diseases — pride  and  leprosy; 
the  one  was  as  hard  to  get  rid  of  as  the  other.  Elisha  sits 
quietly  in  his  house  and  does  not  go  out.  After  awhile, 
when  he  thinks  he  has  humbled  this  proud  man,  he  says  to 
a  servant:  "Go  out  and  tell  Gen.  Naaman  to  bathe  seven 
times  in  the  Eiver  Jordan,  out  yonder  five  miles,  and  he  will 
get  entirely  well."  The  messenger  comes  out:  "What!" 
says  the  commander-in-chief  of  the  Syrian  forces,  his  eyes 
kindling  with  an  animation  which  it  had  not  shown  for 
weeks,  and  his  swollen  foot  stamping  on  the  bottom  of  the 
chariot,  regardless  of  pain:  "What!  Isn't  he  coming  out  to 
see  me?  Why,  I  thought  certainly  he  would  come  and  utter 
some  cabalistic  words  over  me  or  make  some  enigmatical 
passes  over  my  wounds.  Why,  I  don't  think  he  knows  who 
I  am.  Isn't  he  coming  out?  Why,  when  the  Shunannite 
woman  came  to  him  he  rushed  out  and  cried:  'Is  it  well  with 
thee?  Is  it  well  with  thy  husband?  Is  it  well  with  the 
child?'  And  will  he  treat  a  poor  unknown  woman  like  that, 
and  let  me,  a  titled  personage,  sit  here  in  my  chariot  and  wait 
and  wait?  I  won't  endure  it  any  longer.  Charioteer,  drive 
on !  Wash  in  the  Jordan !  Ha !  ha !  The  slimy  Jordan — 
the  muddy  Jordan  the  monotonous  Jordan.  I  wouldn't  be 
seen  washing  in  such  a  river  as  that.  Why,  we  watered  our 
horses  in  a  better  river  than  that  on  our  way  here.  The 
beautiful  river,  the  jasper-paved  river  of  Pharpar.  Besides 
that,  we  have  in  our  country  another  Damascene  river,  Abana, 
with  f oliaged  bank  and  torrent  ever  swift  and  ever  clear, 
under  the  flickering  shadows  of  sycamore  and  oleander.  Are 
not  Abana  and  Pharpar,  rivers  of  Damascus,  better  than  all 
the  waters  of  Israel?" 

I  suppose  Naaman  felt  very  much  as  we  would  feel  if,  by 
way  of  medical  prescription,  some  one  should  tell  us  to  go 
and  wash  in  the  Danube  or  the  Ehine.  We  would  answer: 
"Are  not  the  Connecticut  or  the  Hudson  just  as  good?"  Or, 


538 


LEPERS. 


as  an  Englishman  would  feel  if  he  were  told,  by  way  of 
medical  prescription,  he  must  go  and  wash  in  the  Mississippi 
or  St.  Lawrence.  He  would  cry  out:  "Are  not  the  Thames 
and  the  Shannon  just  as  well?" 

The  fact  was  that  haughty  Naaman  needed  to  learn  what 
every  Englishman  and  every  American  needs  to  learn — that 
when  God  tells  you  to  do  a  thing,  you  must  go  and  do  it, 
whether  you  understand  the  reason  or  not.  Take  the  pre- 
scription, whether  you  like  it  or  not.  One  thing  is  certain: 
Unless  haughty  Naaman  does  as  Elisha  commands  nim,  he 
will  die  of  his  awful  sickness.  And  unless  you  do  as  Christ 
commands  you,  you  will  be  seized  upon  by  an  everlasting 
wasting  away.  Obey  and  live — disobey  and  die.  Thrilling, 
over-arching,  under-girding,  stupendous  alternative! 

Well,  Gen.  Naaman  could  not  stand  the  test.  The 
charioteer  gives  a  jerk  to  the  right  line  until  the  bit  snaps  in 
the  horse's  mouth,  and  the  whirr  of  the  wheels  and  the  flying 
of  the  dust  show  the  indignation  of  the  great  commander. 
"He  turned  and  went  away  in  a  rage."  So  people  now  often 
get  mad  at  religion.  They  vituperate  against  ministers, 
against  churches,  against  Christian  people.  One  would  think 
from  their  irate  behavior  that  God  had  been  studying  how  to 
annoy  and  exasperate  and  demolish  them.  What  has  He 
been  doing?  Only  trying  to  cure  their  death-dealing  leprosy? 
That  is  all.  Yet  they  whip  up  their  horses,  they  dig  in  the 
spurs,  and  they  go  away  in  a  rage. 

So,  after  all,  it  seems  that  this  health  excursion  of  Gen. 
Naaman  is  to  be  a  dead  failure.  That  little  Hebrew  captive 
might  as  well  have  not  told  him  of  the  prophet,  and  this  long 
journey  might  as  well  not  have  been  taken.  Poor,  sick,  dying 
Naaman !  are  you  going  away  in  high  dudgeon  and  worse 
than  when  you  came?  As  his  chariot  halts  a  moment  his 
servants  clamber  up  in  it  and  coax  him  to  do  as  Elisha  said.. 
They  say:  "It's  easy.  If  the  prophet  had  told  you  to  walk 
for  a  mile  on  sharp  spikes  in  order  to  get  rid  of  this  awful 


LEPERS. 


539 


disease  you  would  have  done  it.  It  is  easy.  Come,  my  lord, 
just  get  down  and  wash  in  the  Jordan.  You  take  a  bath 
every  day,  anyhowf  and  in  this  climate,  it  is  so  hot  that  it 
will  do  you  good.  Do  it  on  our  account  and  for  the  sake  of 
the  army  you  command,  and  for  the  sake  of  the  nation  that 
admires  you.  Come,  my  lord,  just  try  this  Jordanic  bath." 
"Well,"  he  says,  "to  please  you  I  will  do  as  you  say." 

The  retinue  drive  to  the  brink  of  the  Jordan.  The  horses 
paw  and  neigh  to  get  into  the  stream,  themselves  and  cool 
their  hot  flanks.  Gen.  Naaman,  assisted  by  his  attendants, 
gets  down  out  of  his  chariot  and  painfully  comes  to  the  brink 
of  the  river,  and  steps  in  until  the  water  comes  to  the  ankle, 
and  goes  on  deeper  until  the  water  comes  to  the  girdle,  and 
now  standing  so  far  down  in  the  stream,  just  a  little  inclina- 
tion of  the  head  will  thoroughly  immerse  him.  He  bows  once 
into  the  flood,  and  comes  up  and  shakes  the  water  out  of  his 
nostrils  and  eyes,  and  his  attendants  look  at  him,  and  say: 

"Why,  General,  how  much  better  you  do  look."  And  he 
bows  a  second  time  into  the  flood  and  comes  up,  and  the 
wild  stare  is  gone  out  of  his  eye.  He  bows  a  third  time  into 
the  flood  and  comes  up,  and  his  shriveled  flesh  has  got  smooth 
again.  He  bows  the  fourth  time  into  the  flood  and  comes 
up,  and  the  hair  that  had  fallen  out  is  restored  in  thick  locks 
again  all  over  the  brow.  He  bows  the  fifth  time  into  the 
flood  and  comes  up,  and  the  hoarseness  has  gone  out  of  his 
throat.  He  bows  the  sixth  time  and  comes  up,  and  all  the 
soreness  and  anguish  have  gone  out  of  the  limbs.  "Why," 
he  says,  "I  am  almost  well,  but  I  will  make  a  complete  cure," 
and  he  bows  the  seventh  time  into  the  flood,  and  he  comes 
up,  and  not  so  much  as  a  fester,  or  scale,  or  an  eruption  as 
big  as  the  head  of  a  pin  is  to  be  seen  on  him.  He  steps  out 
on  the  bank  and  says:  "Is  it  possible?"  And  the  attendants 
look  and  say:  "Is  it  possible?"  And  as,  with  the  health  of 
an  athlete,  he  bounds  back  into  the  chariot  and  drives  ony 
there  goes  up  from  all  his  attendants  a  wild  "Hussa!  huzza!" 


540 


LEPERS. 


Of  course  they  go  back  to  pay  and  thank  the  man  of  God  for 
his  counsel  so  fraught  with  wisdom.  When  they  left  the 
prophet's  house  they  went  off  mad;  they  have  come  back 
glad. 

People  always  think  better  of  a  minister  after  they  are 
converted  than  they  do  before  conversion.  Now,  we  are  to 
them  an  intolerable  nuisance  because  we  tell  them  to  do 
things  that  go  against  the  grain ;  but  some  of  us  have  a  great 
many  letters  from  those  who  tell  us  that  once  they  were 
angry  at  what  we  preached,  but  afterward  gladly  received 
the  gospel  at  our  hands.  They  once  called  us  fanatics  or 
terrorists  of  enemies;  now  they  call  us  friends.  I  know  a 
man — I  speak  a  literal  fact — who  said  that  he  would  never 
come  into  my  church  again.  He  said:  "My  family  shall 
never  come  again  if  such  doctrines  as  that  are  preached." 

But  he  came  again,  and  his  family  came  again.  He  is  a 
Christian,  his  wife  a  Christian,  all  his  children  Christians, 
the  whole  household  Christian,  and  I  shall  dwell  with  them 
in  the  house  of  the  Lord  forever.  Our  undying  coadjutors 
are  those  who  once  heard  the  gospel  and  "went  away  in  a 
rage." 

Now,  my  readers,  you  notice  that  this  Gen.  Naaman  did 
two  things  in  order  to  get  well.  The  first  was — he  got  out 
of  his  chariot.  He  might  have  staid  there  with  his  swollen 
feet  on  the  stuffed  ottoman,  seated  on  that  embroidered 
cushion,  until  his  last  gasp,  and  he  would  never  have  got 
any  relief.  He  had  to  get  down  out  of  his  chariot.  And  you 
have  got  to  get  down  out  of  the  chariot  of  your  pride  if  you 
ever  become  a  Christian.  You  can  not  drive  up  to  the  cross 
with  a  coach -and-f our,  and  be  saved  among  all  the  spangles. 
You  seem  to  think  that  the  Lord  is  going  to  be  complimented 
by  your  coming.  Oh,  no;  you  poor,  miserable,  scaly,  lep- 
rous sinner,  get  down  out  of  that !  We  all  come  in  the  same 
naughty  way.  We  expect  to  ride  in  the  kingdom  of  God. 
Never  until  we  get  down  on  our  knees  will  we  find  mercy. 


LEPERS. 


541 


The  Lord  has  unhorsed  us,  uncharioted  us.  Get  down  out 
of  your  self-righteousness  and  your  hypercriticism.  We 
have  all  got  to  do  that.  That  is  the  journey  we  have  got  to 
make  on  our  knees.  It  is  our  infernal  pride  that  keeps  us 
from  getting  rid  of  the  leprosy  of  sin.  Dear  Lord,  what 
have  we  to  be  proud  of?  Proud  of  our  scales?  Proud  of  our 
uncleanness?  Proud  of  this  killing  infection?  Bring  us 
down  at  thy  feet,  weeping,  praying,  penitent,  believing  sup- 
plicants ! 

But  he  had  not  only  to  get  down  out  of  his  chariot.  He 
had  to  wash.  ! * Oh,"  you  say,  "I  am  very  careful  of  my 
ablutions.  Every  day  I  plunge  into  a  bright  and  beautiful 
bath.,,  Ah,  there  is  a  flood  brighter  than  any  other.  It  is 
the  flood  that  breaks  from  the  granite  of  the  eternal  hills.  It 
is  the  flood  of  pardon,  and  peace,  and  life,  and  heaven. 
That  flood  started  in  the  tears  of  Christ  and  the  sweat  of 
Gethsemane,  and  rolled  on,  accumulating  flood,  until  all 
earth  and  heaven  could  bathe  in  it.  Zechariah  called  it  the 
"fountain  open  for  sin  and  uncleanness."  William  Cowper 
called  it  the  "fountain  filled  with  blood."  Your  fathers  and 
mothers  washed  all  their  sins  and  sorrows  away  in  that 
fountain.  Oh,  dear  reader,  do  you  not  feel  to-day  like 
wading  into  it?  Wade  down  now  into  this  glorious  flood, 
deeper,  deeper,  deeper.  Plunge  once,  twice,  thrice,  four 
times,  five  times,  six  times,  seven  times.  It  will  take  as 
much  as  that  to  cure  your  soul.  Oh,  wash,  wash,  wash,  and 
be  clean ! 

I  suppose  that  was  a  great  time  at  Damascus  when  Gen- 
eral Naaman  got  back.  The  charioteers  did  not  have  to 
drive  slowly  any  longer,  lest  they  jolt  the  invalid;  but  as  the 
horses  dashed  through  the  streets  of  Damascus  I  think  the 
people  rushed  out  to  hail  back  their  chieftain.  Naaman's 
wife  hardly  recognized  her  husband.  He  was  so  wonderfully 
changed  she  had  to  look  at  him  two  or  three  times  before  she 
made  out  that  he  was  her  restored  husband.    And  the  little 


542 


LEPERS. 


captive  maid,  she  rushed  out,  clapping  her  hands,  and  shout- 
ing: "Did  he  cure  you?  Did  he  cure  you?"  Then  music 
woke  up  the  palace,  and  the  tapestr}T  of  the  windows  was 
drawn  away,  that  the  multitudes  outside  might  mingle  with 
the  princely  mirth  inside ;  and  the  feet  went  up  and  down  in 
the  dance,  and  all  the  streets  in  Damascus  that  night  echoed 
and  re-echoed  with  the  news :  "Naaman's  cured!  Naaman's 
cured!"  But  a  gladder  tune  than  that  it  would  be  wherever 
this  chapter  shall  be  read,  if  the  soul  should  get  cured  of  its 
leprosy.  The  swiftest  white  horse  hitched  to  the  King's 
chariot  would  rush  the  news  in  the  eternal  city.  Our  loved 
ones  before  the  throne  would  welcome  the  glad  tidings. 
Your  children  on  earth  with  more  emotion  than  the  little 
Hebrew  captive  would  notice  the  change  in  your  look,  and  the 
change  in  your  manner,  and  would  put  their  arms  around 
your  neck  and  say:  "Mother,  I  guess  you  must  have  become 
a  Christian.  Father,  I  think  you  have  got  rid  of  the  lep- 
rosy."   Oh,  Lord  God  of  Elisha;  have  mercy  on  us! 


CHAPTER  XLII1. 


"  BROKEN  PIECES  OF  THE  SHIP." 

Never  off  Goodwin  Sands,  or  the  Skerries,  or  Cape  Hat- 
teras  was  a  ship  in  worse  predicament  than  in  the  Mediterra- 
nean hurricane  was  the  grain  ship,  on  which  two  hundred 
and  seventy-six  passengers  were  driven  on  the  coast  of  Malta, 
five  miles  from  the  metropolis  of  that  island  called  Civita 
Vecchia.  After  a  two  weeks'  tempest  and  the  ship  was  en- 
tirely disabled,  and  captain  and  crew  had  become  completely 
demoralized,  an  old  missionary  took  command  of  the  vessel. 
He  was  small,  crooked-backed  and  sore-eyed,  according  to 
tradition.  It  was  Paul,  the  only  unscared  man  aboard.  He 
was  no  more  afraid  of  a  Euroclydon  tossing  the  Mediteran- 
ean  Sea,  now  up  to  the  gates  of  heaven  and  now  sinking  it 
to  the  gates  of  hell,  than  he  was  afraid  of  a  kitten  playing 
with  a  string.  He  ordered  them  all  down  to  take  their 
rations,  first  asking  for  them  a  blessing.  Then  he  insured 
all  their  lives,  telling  them  they  would  be  rescued,  and,  so 
far  from  losing  their  heads,  they  would  not  lose  so  much 
of  their  hair  as  you  could  cut  off  with  one  click  of  the 
scissors ;  aye,  not  a  thread  of  it,  whether  it  were  gray  with 
age  or  golden  with  youth.  "There  shall  not  a  hair  fall  from 
the  head  of  any  of  you." 

Knowing  that  they  can  never  get  to  the  desired  port, 
they  make  the  sea,  on  the  fourteenth  night  black  with  over- 
thrown cargo,  so  that  when  the  ship  strikes  it  will  not  strike 
so  heavily.  At  daybreak  they  saw  a  creek,  and  in  their 
exigency  resolved  to  make  for  it.  And  so  they  cut  the  cables, 
took  in  the  two  paddles  that  they  had  on  these  old  boats,  and 

(543) 


544 


"BROKEN  PIECES  OF  THE  SHIP." 


hoisted  the  main  sail  so  that  they  might  come  with  such 
force  as  to  be  driven  high  upon  the  beach  by  some  fortunate 
billow.  There  she  goes — tumbling  toward  the  rock,  now 
prow  foremost,  now  stern  foremost,  now  rolling  over  to  the 
starboard,  now  a  wave  dashes  clear  over  the  deck,  and  it 
seems  as  if  the  old  craft  has  gone  forever.  But  up  she  comes 
again.  Paul's  arm  around  a  mast,  he  cries:  "All  is  well! 
God  has  given  me  all  those  that  sail  with  me." 

Crash  went  the  prow  with  such  force  that  it  broke  off 
the  mast.  Crash  went  the  timbers  till  the  sea  rushed 
through  from  side  to  side  of  the  vessel.  She  parts  amid- 
ships, and  into  a  thousand  fragments,  and  into  the  waves 
two  hundred  and  seventy-six  mortals  are  precipitated. 
Some  of  them  had  been  brought  up  on  the  seashore  and  had 
learned  to  swim,  and  with  their  chins  just  above  the  waves, 
and  by  stroke  of  both  arms  and  propulsion  of  both  feet,  they 
put  out  for  the  beach  and  reach  it.  But,  alas !  for  those 
others.  They  have  never  learned  to  swim,  or  they  were 
wounded  by  the  falling  of  the  mast,  or  the  nervous  shock 
was  too  great  for  them.  And  others  had  been  weakened  by 
the  long  sea-sicknesses. 

Oh,  what  will  become  of  them?  "Take  that  piece  of 
a  rudder,"  says  Paul  to  one.  "Take  that  fragment  of  a  spar," 
says  Paul  to  another.  "Take  that  table."  "Take  thatimage 
of  Castor  and  Pollux."  Take  that  plank  from  the  lifeboat.'* 
"Take  anything  and  head  for  the  beach."  What  a  struggle 
for  life  in  the  breakers!  Oh,  the  merciless  waters,  how  they 
sweep  over  the  heads  of  men,  women  and  children!  Hold 
on  there!  Almost  ashore,  keep  up  your  courage!  Kemember 
what  Paul  told  you.  There,  the  receding  wave  on  the  beach 
leaves  in  the  sand  a  whole  family.  There  crawls  up  out  of 
the  surf  the  centurion.  There  another  piece  of  the  shattered 
vessel  with  its  freightage  of  an  immortal  soul.  They  must 
by  this  time  all  be  saved.  Yes;  there  comes  in  last  of  all, 
for  he  had  been  overseeing  the  rest,  the  old  missionary,  who 


"broken  pieces  of  the  ship."  545 

wrings  the  water  from  his  gray  beard,  and  cries  out:  "Thank 
God,  all  are  here!" 

Gather  them  around  the  fire  and  call  the  roll.  Paul 
builds  a  fire,  and  when  the  bundles  of  sticks  begin  to  crackle, 
and,  standing  and  sitting  around  the  blaze,  the  passengers 
begin  to  recover  from  their  chill,  and  their  wet  clothes  begin 
to  dry,  and  warmth  begins  to  come  into  all  the  shivering 
passengers,  let  the  purser  of  the  vessel  go  round  and  see  if 
any  of  the  poor  creatures  are  missing.  Not  one  of  the  crowd 
that  were  plunged  into  the  sea.  How  it  relieves  our  anxiety 
as  we  read  the  story:  Some  on  broken  pieces  of  the  ship, 
and  so  it  came  to  pass  they  all  escaped  safe  to  land. 

There  is  something  about  those  who  came  in  on  broken 
pieces  of  the  ship  that  excites  in  me  an  intense  interest. 
I  am  not  so  much  interested  in  those  that  could  swim. 
They  got  ashore,  as  I  expected.  A  mile  of  water  is  not 
a  very  great  undertaking  for  a  strong  swimmer,  or  even 
two  miles  are  not.  But  I  cannot  stop  thinking  about  those 
on  broken  pieces  of  the  ship.  The  great  gospel  ship  is 
the  finest  vessel  of  the  universe,  and  can  carry  more  passen- 
gers than  any  ship  ever  constructed,  and  you  could  no  more 
wreck  it  than  you  could  wreck  the  throne  of  God  Almighty. 
I  wish  all  the  people  would  come  aboard  of  her.  I  could 
not  promise  a  smooth  voyage,  for  ofttimes  it  will  be  tempest- 
uous, or  a  chopped  sea,  but  I  could  promise  safe  arrival  for 
all  who  took  passage  on  that  Great  Eastern,  so-called  by  me 
because  its  commander  came  out  of  the  East,  the  star  of  the 
East  a  badge  of  his  authority  But  a  vast  multitude  do  not 
take  regular  passage.  Their  theology  is  broken  in  pieces,  and 
their  lives  are  broken  in  pieces,  and  their  habits  are  broken 
in  pieces,  and  their  worldly  and  spiritual  prospects  are  broken 
in  pieces,  and  yet  I  believe  they  are  going  to  reach  the  shining 
shore,  and  I  am  encouraged  by  the  experience  of  those  people 
who  came  in  on  some  broken  pieces  of  the  ship. 

One  object  I  have  in  this  chapter  is  to  encourage  all  those 


546 


"BROKEN  pieces  of  the  ship." 


who  can  not  take  the  whole  system  of  religion  as  we  believe 
it,  but  who  really  believe  something,  to  come  ashore  on  that 
one  plank.  I  do  not  underrate  the  value  of  a  great  theolog- 
ical system,  but  where  in  all  the  Bible  is  there  anything  that 
says:  Believe  in  John  Calvin  and  thou  shalt  be  saved,  or 
believe  in  Arminius  and  thou  shalt  be  saved,  or  believe  in 
the  Synod  of  Dort  and  thou  shalt  be  saved,  or  believe  in  the 
Thirty-nine  Articles  and  thou  shalt  be  saved?  A  man  may 
be  orthodox  and  go  to  hell,  or  heterodox  and  go  to  heaven. 
The  man  who,  in  the  deep  affection  of  his  heart,  accepts 
Christ  is  saved,  and  the  man  who  does  not  accept  him  is  lost. 
I  believe  in  both  the  Heidelberg  and  Westminster  catechisms, 
and  I  wish  you  all  did,  but  you  may  believe  in  nothing  they 
contain  except  the  one  idea  that  Christ  came  to  save  sinners, 
and  that  you  are  one  of  them,  and  you  are  instantly  rescued. 
If  you  can  come  in  the  grand  old  ship,  I  would  rather  have 
you  get  aboard,  but  if  you  can  find  only  a  piece  of  wood  as 
long  as  the  human  body  or  a  piece  as  wide  as  the  outspread 
human  arms,  and  either  of  them  is  a  piece  of  the  cross, 
come  in  on  that  piece.  Tens  of  thousands  of  people  are  to- 
day kept  out  of  the  kingdom  of  God  because  they  can  not 
believe  everything. 

I  am  talking  with  a  man  thoughtful  about  his  soul  who 
has  lately  traveled  through  New  England  and  passed  the1 
night  at  Andover.  He  says  to  me:  "I  can  not  believe  that 
in  this  life  the  destiny  is  irrevocably  fixed;  I  think  there  will 
be  another  opportunity  of  repentance  after  death."  I  say  to 
him:  "  My  brother,  what  has  that  to  do  with  you?  Don't 
you  realize  that  the  man  who  waits  for  another  chance  after 
death  when  he  has  a  good  chance  before  death  is  a  stark 
fool?  Had  not  you  better  take  the  plank  that  is  thrown  to 
you  now  and  head  for  the  shore,  rather  than  wait  for  a  plank 
that  may  by  invisible  hands  be  thrown  to  you  after  you  are 
dead?  Do  as  you  please,  but  as  for  myself,  with  pardon  for 
all  my  sins  offered  me  now,  and  all  the  joys  of  time  and 


"broken  pieces  of  the  ship."  547 

eternity  offered  me  now,  I  instantly  take  them  rather  than 
run  the  risk  of  such  other  chance  as  wise  men  think  they 
can  peel  off  or  twist  out  of  a  scripture  passage  that  has  for 
all  the  Christian  centuries  been  interpreted  another  way." 

You  say:  "I  do  not  like  Princeton  theology,  or  New 
Haven  theology,  or  Andover  theology."  I  do  not  ask  you  on 
board  either  of  these  great  men-of-war,  their  port-holes 
filled  with  great  siege-guns  of  ecclesiastical  battle.  But  I 
do  ask  you  to  take  the  one  plank  of  the  Gospel  that  you  do 
believe  in  and  strike  out  for  the  pearl-strung  beach  of  heaven. 

Says  some  other  man :  "I  would  attend  to  religion  if  I 
was  quite  sure  about  the  doctrine  of  election  and  free 
agency,  but  that  mixes  me  all  up."  Those  things  used  to 
bother  me,  but  I  have  no  more  perplexity  about  them,  for  I 
say  to  myself:  "If  I  love  Christ  and  live  a  good,  honest, 
useful  life,  I  am  elected  to  be  saved;  and  if  I  do  not  love 
Christ  and  live  a  bad  life,  I  will  be  damned,  and  all  the 
theological  seminaries  of  the  universe  can  not  make  it  any 
different."  I  floundered  a  long  while  in  the  sea  of  sin  and 
doubt,  and  it  was  as  rough  as  the  Mediterranean  on  the  four- 
teenth night,  when  they  threw  the  grain  overboard,  but  I  saw 
there  was  mercy  for  a  sinner,  and  that  plank  I  took,  and  I 
have  been  warming  myself  by  the  bright  fire  on  the  shore 
for  three  decades. 

While  I  am  talking  to  another  man  about  his  soul  he  tells 
me :  "  I  do  not  become  a  Christian  because  I  do  not  believe 
there  is  any  hell  at  all. "  Ah !  don't  you  ?  Do  all  the  people, 
of  all  beliefs  and  no  belief  at  all,  of  good  morals  and  bad 
morals,  go  straight  to  a  happy  heaven?  Do  the  holy  and  the 
debauched  have  the  same  destination?  At  midnight  in  a 
hallway  the  owner  of  a  house  and  a  burglar  meet  each  other, 
and  they  both  fire,  and  both  are  wounded,  but  the  burglar 
died  in  five  minutes  and  the  owner  of  the  house  lives  a  week 
after;  wall  the  burglar  be  at  the  gate  of  heaven  waiting  when 
the  house-owner  comes  in?    Will  the  debauchee  and  the 


548  "BROKEN   PIECES  OF  THE  SHIP." 

libertine  go  right  in  among  the  families  of  heaven?  I 
wonder  if  Herod  is  playing  on  the  banks  of  the  Eiver  of 
Life  with  the  children  he  massacred.  I  wonder  if  Charles 
Guiteau  or  John  Wilkes  Booth  are  up  there  shooting  at  a 
mark.  I  do  not  now  controvert  it,  although  I  must  say  that 
for  such  a  miserable  heaven  I  have  no  admiration.  But  the 
Bible  does  not  say,  "  Believe  in  perdition  and  be  saved." 
Because  all  are  saved,  according  to  your  theory,  that  ought 
not  to  keep  you  from  loving  and  serving  Christ.  Do  not 
refuse  to  come  ashore  because  all  the  others,  according  to 
your  theory,  are  going  to  get  ashore.  You  may  have  a  differ- 
ent theory  about  chemistry,  about  astronomy,  about  the 
atmosphere,  from  that  which  others  adopt,  but  you  are  not 
therefore  hindered  from  action.  Because  your  theory  of  light 
is  different  from  others,  do  not  refuse  to  open  your  eyes. 
Because  your  theory  of  air  is  different  you  do  not  refuse  to 
breathe.  Because  your  theory  about  the  stellar  system  is 
different,  you  do  not  refuse  to  acknowledge  the  North  Star. 
Why  should  the  fact  that  your  theological  theories  are  differ- 
ent hinder  you  from  acting  upon  what  you  know?  If  you 
have  not  a  whole  ship  fashioned  in  the  theological  dry  docks 
to  bring  you  to  wharfage,  you  have  at  least  a  plank. 

"But  I  don't  believe  in  revivals!"  Then  go  to  your  room, 
and  all  alone  with  your  door  locked  give  your  heart  to  God 
and  join  some  Church  where  the  thermometer  never  gets 
higher  than  fifty  in  the  shade.  "But  I  do  not  believe  in 
baptism!"  Come  in  without  it,  and  settle  that  matter  after- 
ward. "But  there  are  so  many  inconsistent  Christians!" 
Then  come  in  and  show  them  by  a  good  example  how  pro- 
fessors ought  to  act.  "But  I  don't  believe  in  the  Old  Testa- 
ment!" Then  come  in  on  the  New.  "But  I  don't  like  the 
Book  of  Bomans!"  Then  come  in  on  Matthew  or  Luke. 
Befusing  to  come  to  Christ,  whom  you  admit  to  be  the 
Saviour  of  the  lost,  because  you  can  not  admit  other  things 
you  are  like  a  man  out  there  in  that  Mediterranean  tempest 


"BROKEN  PIECES  OF  THE  SHIP." 


549 


and  tossed  in  the  Melita  breakers,  refusing  to  come  ashore 
until  he  can  mend  the  pieces  of  the  broken  ship.  I  hear 
him  say:  "I  won't  go  in  on  any  of  these  planks  until  I 
know  in  what  part  of  the  ship  they  belong.  When  I  can 
get  the  windlass  in  the  right  place,  and  the  sails  set,  and 
that  keel-piece  where  it  belongs,  and  that  floor  timber  right, 
and  these  ropes  untangled,  I  will  go  ashore.  I  am  an  old 
sailor  and  know  all  about  ships  for  forty  years,  and  as  soon 
as  I  can  get  the  vessel  afloat  in  good  shape  I  will  come  in," 

A  man  drifting  by  on  a  piece  of  wood  overhears  him  and 
says:  "You  will  drown  before  you  get  that  ship  recon- 
structed. Better  do  as  I  am  doing.  I  know  nothing  about 
ships,  and  never  saw  one  before  I  came  on  board  this,  and  I 
can  not  swim  a  stroke,  but  I  am  going  ashore  on  this  shivered 
timber.' '  The  man  in  the  offing  while  trying  to  mend  his 
ship  goes  down.  The  man  who  trusted  to  the  plank  is 
saved.  0,  my  brother,  let  your  smashed-up  system  of  theol- 
ogy go  to  the  bottom  while  you  come  in  on  a  splintered  spar! 

You  may  get  all  your  difficulties  settled,  as  Garibaldi,  the 
megnetic  Italian,  got  his  gardens  made.  When  the  war 
between  Austria  and  Sardinia  broke  out  he  was  living  at 
Caprera,  a  very  rough  and  uncultured  island  home.  But  he 
went  forth  with  his  sword  to  achieve  the  liberation  of  Naples 
and  Sicily,  and  gave  nine  million  people  free  government 
under  Victor  Emmanuel.  Garibaldi,  after  being  absent  two 
years  from  Caprera,  returned,  and,  when  he  approached  it, 
he  found  that  his  home  had,  by  Victor  Emmanuel,  as  a  sur- 
prise, been  Edenized.  Trimmed  shrubbery  had  taken  the 
place  of  thorny  thickets,  gardens  the  place  of  barrenness, 
and  the  old  rookery  in  which  he  once  lived  had  given  way  to 
a  pictured  mansion,  where  he  lived  in  comfort  the  rest  of  his 
days.  And  I  tell  you  if  you  will  come  and  enlist  under  the 
banner  of  our  Victor  Emmanuel,  and  follow  him  through 
thick  and  thin,  and  fight  his  battles,  and  endure  his  sacri- 
fices, you  will  find  after  awhile  that  he  has  changed  your 


550 


"BROKEN  PIECES  OF  THE  SHIP." 


heart  from  a  jungle  of  thorny  skepticisms  into  a  garden  all 
a-bloom  with  luxuriant  joy  that  you  have  never  dreamt  of. 
From  a  tangled  Caprera  of  sadness  into  a  paradise  of  God ! 

I  do  not  know  how  your  theological  system  went  to  pieces. 
It  may  be  that  your  parents  started  you  with  only  one  plank, 
and  you  believe  little  or  nothing.  Or  they  may  have  been 
too  rigid  and  severe  in  religious  discipline  and  cracked  you 
over  the  head  with  a  psalm-book.  It  may  be  that  some 
partner  in  business  who  was  a  member  of  an  evangelical 
church  played  on  you  a  trick  that  disgusted  you  with  relig- 
ion. It  may  be  that  you  have  associates  who  have  talked 
against  Christianity  in  your  presence  until  you  are  "all  at 
sea,"  and  you  dwell  more  on  things  that  you  do  not  believe 
than  on  things  you  do  believe.  You  are  in  one  respect  like 
Lord  Nelson,  when  a  signal  was  lifted  that  he  wished  to  dis- 
regard and  he  put  his  sea-glass  to  his  blind  eye  and  said : 
"I  really  do  not  see  the  signal."  0,  put  this  field-glass  of 
the  Gospel  no  longer  to  your  blind  eye  and  say  I  can  not  see, 
but  put  it  to  your  other  eye,  the  eye  of  faith,  and  you  will 
see  Christ,  and  he  is  all  you  need  to  see. 

If  you  can  believe  nothing  else,  you  certainly  believe  in 
vicarious  suffering,  for  you  see  it  almost  every  day  in  some 
shape.  Some  time  ago  the  steamship  Knickerbocker,  of  the 
Cromwell  Line,  running  between  New  Orleans  and  New 
York,  was  in  great  storms,  and  the  captain  and  crew  saw  the 
schooner  Mary  D.  Cranmer,  of  Philadelphia,  in  distress. 
The  weather  cold,  the  waves  mountain  high,  the  first  officer 
of  the  steamship  and  four  men  put  out  in  a  lifeboat  to  save 
the  crew  of  the  schooner,  and  reached  the  vessel  and  towed 
it  out  of  danger,  the  wind  shifting  so  that  the  schooner  was 
saved.  But  the  five  men  of  the  steamship  coming  back, 
their  boat  capsized,  yet  righted  again  and  came  on,  the 
sailors  coated  with  ice.  The  boat  capsized  again,  and  three 
times  upset  and  was  righted,  and  a  line  was  thrown  the  poor 
fellows,  but  their  hands  and  arms  were  frozen  so  they  could 


"BROKEN  PIECES  OF  THE  SHIP." 


551 


not  grasp  it,  and  a  great  wave  rolled  over  them,  and  they 
went  down,  never  to  rise  till  the  sea  gives  up  its  dead. 
Appreciate  that  heroism  and  self-sacrifice  of  the  brave  fel- 
lows we  all  can,  and  can  we  not  appreciate  the  Christ  who 
put  out  in  a  more  biting  cold  and  into  a  more  overwhelming 
surge  to  bring  us  out  of  infinite  peril  into  everlasting  safety? 
The  wave  of  human  hate  rolled  over  him  from  one  side,  and 
the  wave  of  hellish  fury  rolled  over  him  on  the  other  side. 
Oh,  the  thickness  of  the  night  and  the  thunder  of  the 
tempest  into  which  Christ  plunged  for  oar  rescue ! 

Come  in  on  that  one  narrow  beam,  the  beam  of  the  cross. 
Let  all  else  go  and  cling  to  that.  Put  that  under  you,  and 
with  the  earnestness  of  a  swimmer  struggling  for  his  life  put 
out  for  shore.  There  is  a  great  warm  fire  of  welcome  already 
built,  and  already  many  who  were  as  far  out  as  you  are,  are 
standing  in  its  genial  and  heavenly  glow.  The  angels  of 
God's  rescue  are  wading  out  into  the  surf  to  clutch  your 
hand,  and  they  know  how  exhausted  you  are,  and  all  the  re- 
deemed prodigals  of  heaven  are  on  the  beach  with  new  white 
robes  to  clothe  all  those  who  come  in  on  broken  pieces  of  the 
ship.  My  sympathies  are  for  such  all  the  more  because  I  was 
naturally  skeptical,  disposed  to  question  everything  about 
this  life  and  the  next,  and  was  in  danger  of  being  further  out 
to  sea  than  any  of  the  two  hundred  and  seventy- six  in  the 
Mediterranean  breakers,  and  I  was  sometimes  the  annoyance 
of  my  theological  professor  because  I  asked  so  many  ques- 
tions. But  I  came  in  on  a  plank.  I  knew  Christ  was  the 
Saviour  of  sinners,  and  that  I  was  a  sinner,  and  I  got  ashore, 
and  I  do  not  propose  to  go  out  on  that  sea*"  again.  I  have 
not  for  thirty  minutes  discussed  the  controverted  points  of 
theology  in  thirty  years.  And  during  the  rest  of  my  life  I 
do  not  propose  to  discuss  them  for  thirty  seconds. 

I  would  rather  in  a  mud-scow  try  to  weather  the  worst 
cyclone  that  ever  swept  up  from  the  Caribbean  than  risk  my 
immortal  soul  in  useless  and  perilous  discussion  in  which 


552 


"BROKEN  PIECES  OF  THE  SHIP." 


some  of  my  brethren  in  the  ministry  are  indulging.  They 
remind  me  of  a  company  of  sailors  standing  on  Kamsgate 


pierhead,  from  which  the  life-boats  are  usually  launched,  and 
coolly  discussing  the  different  style  of  oar-locks  and  how  deep 


"BROKEN  PIECES  OF  THE  SHIP." 


553 


a  boat  ought  to  set  in  the  water,  while  a  hurricane  is  in  full 
blast,  and  there  are  three  steamers  crowded  with  passengers 
going  to  pieces  in  the  offing.  An  old  tar,  the  muscles  of  his 
face  working  with  nervous  excitement,  cries  out:  "This  is 
no  time  to  discuss  such  things.  Man  the  life-boat!  Who 
will  volunteer?  Out  with  her  into  the  serf!  Pull,  my  lads, 
pull  for  the  wreck!  Ha!  ha!  Now  we  have  them.  Lift 
them  in  and  lay  them  down  on  the  bottom  of  the  boat. 
Jack,  you  try  to  bring  them  to.  Put  these  flannels  around 
their  hands  and  feet,  and  I  will  pull  for  the  shore.  God 
help  me!  There!  Landed!  Huzza!"  When  there  are  so? 
many  struggling  in  the  waves  of  sin  and  sorrow  and  wretched- 
ness, let  all  else  go  but  salvation  for  time  and  salvation 
forever. 

I  bethink  myself  that  there  are  some  whose  opportunity 
or  whose  life  is  a  mere  wreck,  and  they  have  only  a  small 
piece  left.  You  started  in  youth  with  all  sails  set  and  every- 
thing promising  a  grand  voyage,  but  you  have  sailed  in  the 
wrong  direction  or  have  foundered  on  a  rock.  You  have 
only  a  fragment  of  time  left.  Then  come  in  on  that  one 
plank.  You  admit  that  you  are  all  broken  up,  one  decade  of 
your  life  gone  by,  two  decades,  three  decades,  four  decades,  a 
half  century,  perhaps  three-quarters  of  a  century  gone.  The 
hour-hand  and  the  minute-hand  of  your  clock  of  life  are 
almost  parallel,  and  soon  it  will  be  twelve  and  your  day 
ended.  Clear  discouraged,  are  you?  I  admit  it  is  a  sad 
thing  to  give  all  of  our  lives  that  are  worth  anything  to  sin 
and  the  devil,  and  then  at  last  make  God  a  present  of  a  first- 
rate  corpse.  But  the  past  you  cannot  recover.  Get  on  board 
that  old  ship  you  never  will.  Have  you  only  one  more  year 
left,  one  more  month,  one  more  week,  one  more  day,  one 
more  hour — come  in  on  that.  Perhaps  if  you  get  to  heaven 
God  may  let  you  go  out  on  some  great  mission  to  some  other 
world,  where  you  can  somewhat  atone  for  your  lack  of  service 
in  this, 


554 


"BROKEN  PIECES  OF  THE  SHIP. 


From  many  a  deathbed  I  have  seen  the  hands  thrown  up 
in  deploration  something  like  this:  "My  life  has  been 
wasted.  I  had  good  mental  faculties,  and  fine  social  posi- 
tion, and  great  opportunity,  but  through  worldliness  and 
neglect  all  has  gone  to  waste,  save  these  few  remaining  hours. 
I  now  accept  of  Christ,  and  shall  enter  heaven  through  his 
mercy:  but  alas!  alas!  that  when  I  might  have  entered  the 
haven  of  eternal  rest  with  a  full  cargo,  and  been  greeted  by 
the  waving  hands  of  a  multitude  in  whose  salvation  I  had 
borne  a  blessed  part,  I  must  confess  I  now  enter  the  harbor 
of  heaven  on  broken  pieces  of  the  ship!" 


CHAPTER  XLIY. 


WRECKED  FOR   TWO  WORLDS. 

Ministers  of  religion  may  finally  be  lost.  The  Apostle 
indicates  that  possibility.  Gown  and  surplice  and  cardinal's 
red  hat  are  no  security.  Cardinal  Woolsey,  after  having  been 
petted  by  kings  and  having  entertained  foreign  ambassadors 
at  Hampton  Court,  died  in  darkness.  One  of  the  most 
eminent  ministers  of  religion  that  this  country  has  ever  known 
plunged  into  sin  and  died,  his  heart,  in  post  mortem  exam- 
ination, found  to  have  been,  not  figuratively,  but  literally, 
broken.  0,  ministers  of  Christ,  because  we  have  diplomas 
of  graduation,  and  hands  of  ordination  on  the  head,  and 
address  consecrated  assemblages,  that  is  no  reason  why 
we  shall  necessarily  reach  the  realm  celestial.  The  clergyman 
must  go  through  the  same  gate  of  pardon  as  the  layman. 
The  preacher  may  get  his  audience  into  heaven,  and  he  him- 
self miss  it.  There  have  been  cases  of  shipwreck  where  all 
on  board  escaped  excepting  the  captain.  Alas!  if,  having 
" preached  to  others,  I  myself  should  be  a  castaway."  God 
forbid  it. 

I  have  examined  some  of  the  commentaries  to  see  what 
they  thought  about  this  word  "castaway,"  and  I  find  that  they 
differ  in  regard  to  the  figure  used,  while  they  agree  in  regard 
to  the  meaning.  So  I  shall  make  my  own  selection,  and  take 
it  in  a  nautical  and  seafaring  sense,  and  show  you  that  men 
may  become  spiritual  castaways,  and  how  finally  they  drift 
into  that  calamity.  You  have  all  stood  on  the  beach  of  a 
seaboard  town.  Many  of  you  have  crossed  the  ocean.  Some 
of  you  have  managed  vessels  in  great  stress  of  weather. 

(555) 


556 


WRECKED  FOR  TWO  WORLDS. 


There  is  a  sea-captain!  and  there  is  another,  and  yonder  is 
another,  and  there  are  a  goodly  number  of  you  who,  though 
once  you  did  not  know  the  difference  between  a  brig  and  a 
bark,  and  between  a  diamond  knot  and  a  sprit- sheet-sail  knot, 
and  although  you  could  not  point  out  the  weather-cross  jack 
brace,  and  though  you  could  not  man  the  fore  clue-garnets, 
now  you  are  as  familiar  with  a  ship  as  you  are  with  your 
right  hand,  and  if  it  were  necessary  you  could  take  a  vessel 
clear  across  to  the  mouth  of  the  Mersey  without  the  loss  of  a 
single  sail.  Well,  there  is  a  dark  night  in  your  memory  of 
the  sea.  The  vessel  became  unmanageable.  You  saw  it  was 
scudding  toward  the  shore.  You  heard  the  cry:  "Breakers 
ahead!  Land  on  the  lee  bow!"  The  vessel  struck  the  rock, 
and  you  felt  the  deck  breaking  up  under  your  feet,  and  you 
were  a  castaway,  as  when  the  Hercules  drove  on  the  coast  of 
Caffraria,  as  when  the  Portuguese  brig  went  staving,  splitting, 
grinding,  crashing  on  the  Goodwins.  But  whether  you 
have  followed  the  sea  or  not,  you  all  understand  the  figure 
when  I  tell  you  that  there  are  men  who  by  their  sins  and 
temptations  are  thrown  helpless !  Driven  before  the  gale ! 
Wrecked  for  two  worlds !    Castaway !  castaway ! 

By  talking  with  some  sailors,  I  have  found  out  that  there 
are  three  or  four  causes  for  such  a  calamity  to  a  vessel.  I 
have  been  told  that  it  sometimes  comes  from  creating  false 
lights  on  the  beach.  This  was  often  so  in  olden  times.  It 
is  not  many  years  ago  indeed  that  vagabonds  used  to  wander 
up  and  down  the  beach,  getting  vessels  ashore  in  the  night, 
throwing  up  false  lights  in  their  presence  and  deceiving  them, 
that  they  might  despoil  and  ransack  them.  All  kinds  of 
infernal  arts  were  used  to  accomplish  this.  And  one  night, 
on  the  Cornish  coast,  when  the  sea  was  coming  in  fearfully, 
some  villains  took  a  lantern  and  tied  it  to  a  horse,  and  led 
the  horse  up  and  down  the  beach,  the  lantern  swaying  to  the 
motion  of  the  horse,  and  a  sea  captain  in  the  offing  saw  it, 
and  made  up  his  mind  that  he  was  not  anywhere  near  the 


WRECKED  FOR  TWO  WORLDS. 


557 


shore,  for  he  said,  "There's  a  vessel — that  must  be  a  vessel, 
for  it  has  a  movable  light,"  and  he  had  no  apprehension  until 
he  heard  the  rocks  grating  on  the  ship's  bottom,  and  it  went 
to  pieces,  and  the  villains  on  shore  gathered  up  the  pack- 
ages and  the  treasures  that  were  washed  to  the  land.  And  I 
have  to  tell  you  'that  there  are  a  multitude  of  souls  ruined  by 
false  lights  on  the  beach.  In  the  dark  night  of  man's  danger, 
Universalism  goes  up  and  down  the  shore,  shaking  its  lantern, 
and  men  look  off  and  take  that  flickering  and  expiring  wick 
as  the  signal  of  safety,  and  the  cry  is,  "Heave  the  main  top- 
sail to  the  mast!  All  is  well!"  when  sudden  destruction 
cometh  upon  them,  and  they  shall  not  escape.  So  there  are 
all  kinds  of  lanterns  swung  on  the  beach — philosophical 
lanterns,  educational  lanterns,  humanitarian  lanterns.  Men 
look  at  them,  and  are  deceived,  when  there  is  nothing  but 
God's  eternal  light:house  of  the  Gospel  that  can  keep  them 
from  becoming  castaways. 

Once,  on  Wolf  Crag  light-house,  they  tried  to  build  a 
copper  figure  of  a  wolf  with  its  mouth  open,  so  that  the 
storms  beating  into  it,  the  wolf  would  howl  forth  the  danger 
to  mariners  that  might  be  coming  anywhere  near  the  coast. 
Of  course  it  was  a  failure.  And  so  all  new  inventions  for 
the  saving  of  man's  soul  are  unavailing.  What  the  human 
race  wants  is  a  light  bursting  forth  from  the  cross  standing 
on  the  great  head-lands — the  light  of  pardon,  the  light 
of  comfort,  the  light  of  heaven.  You  might  better  go 
to-night,  and  destroy  all  the  great  light-house  on  the  danger- 
ous coasts — the  Barnegat  light-house,  the  Fastnet  Eock  light- 
house, the  Sherryvore  light-house,  the  Longship's  light-house, 
the  Hollyhead  light-house — than  to  put  out  God's  great  ocean 
lamp —the  Gospel.  Woe  to  those  who  swing  false  lanterns 
on  the  beach  till  men  crash  in  and  perish.  Castaway!  cast- 
away ! 

By  talking  with  sailors  I  have  heard  also,  that  sometimes 
ships  come  to  this  calamity  by  the  sudden  swoop  of  a  tempest. 


558 


WRECKED  FOR  TWO  WORLDS. 


For  instance,  a  vessel  is  sailing  along  in  the  East  Indies,  and 
there  is  not  a  single  cloud  on  the  sky;  but  suddenly  the 
breeze  freshens,  and  there  are  swift  feet  on  the  ratlines,  and 
the  cry  is:  "'Way,  haul  away  there!"  but  before  they  can 
square  the  booms  and  tarpaulin  the  hatchways,  the  vessel  is 
groaning  and  creaking  in  the  grip  of  a  tornado,  and  falls  over 
into  the  trough  of  the  sea,  and  broadside  rolls  on  to  the  beach 
and  keels  over,  leaving  the  crew  to  struggle  in  the  merciless 
surf.  Castaway!  castaway!  And  so  I  have  to  tell  you  that 
there  are  thousands  of  men  destroyed  through  the  sudden 
swoop  of  temptations.  Some  great  inducement  to  worldli- 
ness,  or  to  sensuality,  or  to  high  temper,  or  to  some  form  of 
dissipation,  comes  upon  them.  If  they  had  time  to  examine 
their  Bible,  if  they  had  time  to  consult  with  their  friends,  if 
they  had  time  to  deliberate,  they  could  stand  it;  but  the 
temptation  came  so  suddenly — a  euroclydon  on  the  Mediter- 
ranean, a  whirlwind  of  the  Carribean.  One  awful  surge  of 
temptation,  and  they  perish.  And  so  we  often  hear  the  old 
story,  "I  hadn't  seen  my  friend  in  a  great  many  years.  We 
were  very  glad  to  meet.  He  said  I  must  drink,  and  he  took 
me  by  the  arm  and  pressed  me  along,  and  filled  the  cup  until 
the  bubbles  ran  over  the  edge,  and  in  an  evil  moment  all  my 
good  resolutions  were  swept  away,  and  to  the  outraging  of 
God  and  my  own  soul,  I  fell."  Or  the  story  is,  "I  had  hard 
work  to  support  my  family.  I  knew  that  by  one  false  entry, 
by  one  deception,  by  one  embezzlement,  I  might  spring  out 
free  from  all  my  trouble ;  but  the  temptation  came  upon  me 
so  fiercely  I  could  not  think.  I  did  wrong,  and  having  done 
wrong  once,  I  could  not  stop."  0,  it  is  the  first  step  that 
costs ;  the  second  is  easier,  and  the  third ;  and  on  to  the  last. 
Once  having  broken  loose  from  the  anchor,  it  is  not  so  easy 
to  tie  the  parted  strands.  How  often  it  is  that  men  perish 
for  the  reason  that  the  temptation  comes  from  some  unex- 
pected quarter.  As  vessels  lie  in  Margate  Eoads,  safe  from 
southwest  winds ;  but  the  wind  changing  to  the  northeast, 


WRECKED  FOR  TWO  WORLDS. 


559 


they  are  driven  helpless  and  go  down.  0,  that  God  would 
have  mercy  upon  those  upon  whom  there  comes  the  sudden 
swoop  of  temptation,  that  they  perish  not,  becoming  for  this 
world  and  the  world  to  come,  cast  away!  cast  away! 

By  talking  with  sailors  I  have  found  out  also  that  some 
vessels  come  to  this  calamity  through  sheer  recklessness. 
There  are  three  million  men  who  follow  the  sea  for  a  living. 
It  is  a  simple  fact  that  the  average  of  human  life  on  the  sea 
is  less  than  twelve  years.  This  comes  from  the  fact  that  men 
by  familiarity  with  danger  sometimes  become  reckless — the 
captain,  the  helmsman,  the  stoker,  the  man  on  "the  look-out 
become  reckless,  and  in  nine  out  of  ten  shipwrecks  it  is  found 
out  that  some  one  was  awfully  to  blame:  So  I  have  to  tell 
you  that  men  lose  their  souls  through  sheer  recklessness. 
There  are  thousands  of  my  friends  in  this  house  to-night  who 
do  not  care  where  they  are  in  spiritual  things.  They  do  not 
know  whether  they  are  sailing  toward  heaven  or  toward  hell, 
and  the  sea  is  black  with  piratical  hulks  that  would  grapple 
them  with  hooks  of  steel,  and  blindfold  them,  and  make  them 
"walk  the  plank."  They  do  not  know  what  the  next  moment 
may  bring  forth.  Drifting  in  their  theology.  Drifting  in 
their  habits.  Drifting  in  regard  to  all  the  future.  No  God, 
no  Christ,  no  settled  anticipations  of  eternal  felicity;  but  all 
the  time  coming  nearer  and  nearer  to  a  dangerous  coast. 
Some  of  them  are  on  fire  with  evil  habit,  and  they  shall  burn 
on  the  sea,  the  charred  hulk  tossed  up  on  the  barren  beach  of 
the  lost  world.  Many  of  them  with  great  troubles,  financial 
troubles,  domestic  troubles,  social  troubles;  but  they  never 
pray  for  comfort.  With  an  aggravation  of  sin  that  stirs  up 
the  ire  of  God  they  pray  for  no  pardon. 

They  do  not  steer  for  the  light  ship  that  dances  in  glad- 
ness at  the  mouth  of  Heaven's  harbor;  reckless  as  to  where 
they  come  out,  drifting  further  from  God,  further  from  early 
religious  influences,  further  from  their  present  happiness, 
further  from  heaven ;  and  what  is  the  worst  thing  about  it  is 


560 


WRECKED  FOR  TWO  WORLDS. 


that  they  are  taking  their  families  along  with  them,  and  if 
one  perish,  perhaps  they  will  all  perish,  and  the  way  one  goes, 
the  probability  is  they  will  all  go.  Yet  no  anxiety.  As 
unconscious  of  danger  as  the  passengers  on  board  the  Arctic 
one  moment  before  the  Vesta  crashed  into  her.  Wrapped 
up  in  the  business  of  the  store,  not  remembering  that  soon 
fchey  must  quit  all  their  earthly  possessions.  Absorbed  in 
their  social  position,  not  knowing  that  very  soon  they  will 
have  attended  the  last  levee,  and  whirled  in  the  last  schottische. 
They  do  not  deliberately  choose  to  be  ruined ;  neither  did 
the  French  frigate  Medusa  aim  for  the  Arguin  Banks,  but 
there  it  went  to  pieces.  0  ye  reckless  souls !  I  wish  that 
to-night  I  could  wake  you  up  with  some  great  perturbation. 

The  perils  are  so  augmented,  the  chances  of  escape  are  so 
few;  you  will  die  just  as  certainly  as  you  sit  there,  unless 
you  bestir  yourself.  I  fear,  my  brother,  you  are  becoming  a 
castaway.  You  are  making  no  effort,  you  are  putting  forth 
no  exertion  for  escape.  You  throw  out  no  oar.  You  take  no 
soundings.  You  watch  no  compass.  You  are  not  calcu- 
lating your  bearings  while  the  wind  is  abaft,  and  yonder  is  a 
long  line  of  foam  bounding  the  horizon,  and  you  will  be 
pushed  on  toward  it,  and  thousands  have  perished  there,  and 
you  are  driving  in  the  same  direction.  Eeady  about !  Down 
helm!  Hard  down!  or  in  the  next  five  minutes  or  four  min- 
utes or  three  minutes  or  two  minutes  or  one  minute  you  may 
be  a  castaway.  0,  unforgiven  soul,  if  you  could  see  your 
peril  before  God  to-night,  on  account  of  your  lifetime  sin  and 
transgression,  there  would  be  fifty  men  who  would  rush 
through  this  aisle  crying  for  mercy,  and  there  would  be  fifty 
who  would  rush  through  that  aisle  crying  for  mercy,  they  would 
be  as  men  are  when  they  rush  across  the  deck  of  a  foundering 
ship,  and  there  would  be  thousands  of  arms  tossed  up  from 
the  galleries;  and  as  these  Christian  men  rose  up  to  help 
them,  it  would  be  as  when  a  vessel  drives  on  the  rocks,  and 
on  the  shore  the  command  is:   "Man  the  lifeboat!  Man  the 


WRECKED  FOR  TWO  WORLDS.  50l 

lifeboat!  Pull,  my  lads,  pull!  A  steamer  with  two  hundred 
on  board  making  the  last  plunge!" 

Why  does  your  cheek  turn  pale,  and  your  heart  pound 
until,  listening,  you  hear  it?  It  is  because,  my  dear  brother, 
you  realize  that  because  of  your  lifetime  sin  and  rejection  of 
God's  mercy  you  are  in  peril,  and  I  really  believe  there  are 
thousands  of  people  this  moment,  saying  within  themselves: 
46 What  shall  I  do?"  Do?  Do?  Why,  my  brother,  do  what 
any  ship  does  when  it  is  in  trouble.  Lift  a  distress  signal. 
There  is  a  flash  and  a  boom.  You  listen  and  you  look.  A 
vessel  is  in  trouble.  The  distress  gun  is  sounded,  or  a  rocket 
is  sent  up,  or  a  blanket  is  lifted,  or  a  bundle  of  rags — any- 
thing to  catch  the  eye  of  the  passing  craft.  So,  if  you  want 
to  be  taken  off  the  wreck  of  your  sin,  you  must  lift  a  dis- 
tress signal.  Eise.  Lift  your  hand.  Cry  out  for  mercy. 
The  publican  lifted  the  distress  signal  when  he  cried:  "God, 
be  merciful  to  me  a  sinner!"  Peter  lifted  the  distress  signal 
when  he  said:  "Lord,  save  me,  I  perish!"  The  blind  man 
lifted  the  distress  signal  when  he  said:  "Lord,  that  my  eyes 
may  be  opened."  The  jailer  lifted  the  distress  signal  when 
he  said:  "What  must  I  do  to  be  saved?"  And  help  will 
never  come  to  your  soul  until  you  lift  such  a  signal  as  that. 
You  must  make  some  demonstration,  give  some  sign,  make 
some  heaven -piercing  outcry  for  help,  lifting  the  distress 
signal  for  the  Church's  prayer,  lifting  the  distress  signal  for 
Heaven's  pardon.  Pray!  Pray!  The  voice  of  the  Lord 
to-night  sounds  in  your  ears:  "  In  Me  is  thy  help."  Too 
proud  to  raise  such  a  signal,  too  proud  to  be  saved. 

There  was  an  old  sailor  thumping  about  in  a  small  boat 
in  a  tempest.  The  larger  vessel  had  gone  down.  He  felt  he 
must  die.  The  surf  was  breaking  over  the  boat,  and  he  said: 
"I  took  off  my  life-belt  that  it  might  soon  be  over,  and  I 
thought  somewhat  indistinctly  about  my  friends  on  shore, 
and  then  I  bid  them  good-bye  like,  and  I  was  about  sinking 
back  and  giving  it  up,  when  I  saw  a  bright  star.    The  clouds 


562 


WRECKED  FOR  TWO  WORLDS. 


were  breaking  away,  and  there  that  blessed  star  shone  down 
on  me,  and  it  seemed  to  take  right  hold  of  me;  and  somehow, 
I  cannot  tell  how  it  was,  but  somehow,  while  I  was  trying 
to  watch  that  star,  it  seemed  to  help  me  and  seemed  to  lift 
me."  0,  drowning  soul,  see  you  not  the  glimmer  between 
the  rifts  of  the  storm-cloud?  Would  to  God  that  that  light 
might  lay  hold  of  you  to-night. 

0,  ye  castaways,  God  is  doing  everything  to  save  you. 
Did  you  ever  hear  of  Lionel  Luken?  He  was  the  inventor 
of  the  insubmergible  life- boat.  All  honor  is  due  his  memory 
by  seafaring  men,  as  well  as  by  landsmen.  How  many  lives 
he  saved  by  his  invention.  In  after  days  that  invention  was 
improved,  and  one  day  there  was  a  perfect  lifeboat,  the 
Northumberland,  ready  at.  Eamsgate.  The  lifeboat  being 
ready,  to  test  it  the  crew  came  out  and  leaped  on  the  gun- 
wale, on  one  side,  to  see  if  the  boat  would  upset  ;  it  was 
impossible  to  upset  it.  Then,  amid  the  huzzas  of  excited 
thousands,  that  boat  was  launched,  and  it  has  gone  and  come, 
picking  up  a  great  many  of  the  shipwrecked.  But  I  have  to 
tell  you  to-night  of  a  grander  launching,  and  from  the  dry- 
docks  of  heaven.  Word  came  up  that  a  world  was  beating 
on  the  rocks.  In  the  presence  of  the  potentates  of  heaven 
the  lifeboat  of  the  world's  redemption  was  launched.  It 
shoved  off  the  golden  sands  amid  angelic  hosanna.  The 
surges  of  darkness  beat  against  its  bow,  but  it  sailed  on,  and 
it  comes  in  sight  to-night.  It  comes  for  you,  it  comes  for 
me.  Soul!  soul!  get  into  it.  Make  one  leap  for  heaven. 
This  is  your  last  chance  for  life.  Let  that  boat  go  past  and 
there  remains  nothing  but  fearful  looking-for  of  judgment, 
and  fiery  indignation  which  shall  devour  the  adversary. 

In  1833  the  Isabella  came  ashore  off  Hastings,  England. 
The  air  was  filled  with  sounds — the  hoarse  sea- trumpet,  the 
crash  of  the  axes,  and  the  bellowing  of  the  tornado.  A  boat 
from  the  shore  came  under  the  stern  of  the  disabled  vessel. 
There  were  women  and  children  on  board  that  vessel.  Some 


WRECKED  FOR  TWO  WORLDS. 


563 


of  the  sailors  jumped  into  the  small  boat  and  said:  "Now 
give  us  the  children."  A  father  who  stood  on  deck  took  his 
first-born  and  threw  him  to  the  boat.  The  sailors  caught 
him  safely,  and  the  next,  and  the  next,  to  the  last.  Still  the 
sea  rocking,  the  storm  howling.  "Now,"said  fche  sailors,  "now 
the  mother;"  and  she  leaped  and  was  saved.  The  boat  went 
to  the  shore;  but  before  it  got  to  the  shore  the  landsmen 
were  so  impatient  to  help  the  suffering  people  that  they  waded 
clear  down  into  the  surf,  with  blankets  and  garments  and 
promises  of  help  and  succor.  I  have  to  hope  to-night  that 
a  great  many  of  the  families  here  are  going  to  be  saved,  and 
saved  all  together.  Give  us  that  child  for  Christ,  that  other 
child,  that  other.  Give  us  the  mother,  give  us  the  father,  the 
whole  family.  They  must  all  come  in.  All  heaven  wades  in  to* 
help  you.  I  claim  all  of  you  for  good.  I  pick  not  out  one  man 
here  nor  one  man  there;  I  claim  all  for  God.  There  are 
some  of  you  who,  thirty  years  ago,  were  consecrated  to 
Christ  by  your  parents  in  baptism.  Certainly  I  am  not  stepping 
over  the  right  bound  when  I  claim  you  for  Jesus.  Then  there 
are  many  here  who  have  been  seeking  God  for  a  good  while, 
and  am  I  not  right  in  claiming  you  for  Jesus?  Then  there 
are  some  here  who  have  been  further  away.  I  saw  you  come 
in  to-night  in  clusters — two,  three,  and  four  men  together — 
and  you  drink,  and  you  swear,  and  you  are  bringing  up  your 
families  without  any  God  to  take  care  of  them  when  you  are 
dead.  And  I  claim  you,  my  brother;  I  claim  all  of  you. 
You  will  have  to  come  to-night  to  the  throne  of  mercy. 
God's  Holy  Spirit  is  striving  now  with  you  irresistibly. 
Although  there  may  be  a  smile  on  your  lip,  there  is  agitation 
and  anxiety  in  your  heart.  You  will  not  come  at  my  invita- 
tion; you  will  come  at  God's  command. 

[At  this  point  in  Mr.  Talmage's  remarks,  one  of  th.6  windows 
in  the  rear  part  of  the  church  was  slammed  down  by  some 
thoughtless  person.  The  noise  alarmed  many  in  the  vast  con- 
gregation, and  they  made  a  rush  for  the  doors.  This  had  the 
effect  of  alarming  others,  and  in  a  moment  six  thousand  people 


564  WRECKED  FOR  TWO  WORLDS. 

were  up  on  their  feet.  Mr.  Talmage  cried  to  them  to  "sit  down." 
The  President  of  the  Board  of  Trustees  ascertained  the  cause  of 
the  noise  and  immediately  informed  Mr.  Talmage,  who  an- 
nounced it,  and  succeeded  in  bringing  the  people  to  order  again. 
That  part  of  the  congregation  who  had  wisely  kept  their  seats 
were  singing  the  doxology  during  the  uproar.  Nearly  all  of 
those  who  had  left  the  building  returned  when  they  learned  the 
cause  of  their  fright,  and  Mr.  Talmage  continued  as  follows:] 

What!  are  you  so  afraid  when  there  is  no  danger  at  all? 
Will  the  slamming  shut  of  a  window  startle  six  thousand 
souls?  Would  God  that  you  were  as  cautious  about  eternal 
perils  as  you  are  about  the  perils  of  time.  If  that  slight 
noise  sends  you  to  your  feet,  what  will  you  do  when  the 
thunders  of  the  last  day  roll  through  earth  and  sky,  and  the 
mountains  come  down  in  avalanche  of  rock?  You  cry  out 
for  the  safety  of  your  body;  why  not  cry  out  for  the  safety 
of  your  soul?  You  will  have  to  pray  some  time;  why  not 
begin  now,  while  all  the  ripe  and  purple  clusters  of  divine 
promise  bend  over  into  your  cup,  rather  than  postpone  your 
prayer  until  your  chance  is  past,  and  the  night  drops,  and 
the  sea  washes  you  out,  and  forever  and  forever  and  forever 
you  become  a  castaway? 


CHAPTER  XLT. 


SOLD  OUT  FOR  ETERNITY. 

The  Jews  had  gone  headlong  into  sin,  and  as  a  punish- 
ment they  had  been  carried  captive  to  Babylon.  They  found 
that  iniquity  did  not  pay.  Cyrus  seized  Babylon,  and  felt  so 
sorry  for  these  poor  captive  Jews  that,  without  a  dollar  of 
compensation,  he  let  them  go  home.  So  that  literally  these 
words  were  fulfilled:  "  Ye  have  sold  ourselves  for  nought; 
and  ye  shall  be  redeemed  without  money."  There  are  many 
persons  who  have,  like  these  Jews,  sold  out.  They  do  not 
seem  to  belong  either  to  themselves  or  to  God.  The  title 
deeds  have  been  passed  over  to  "  the  world,  the  flesh  and  the 
devil;"  but  the  purchaser  has  never  paid  up.  "They  have 
sold  themselves  for  nought." 

When  a  man  passes  himself  over  to  the  world  he  expects 
to  get  some  adequate  compensation.  He  has  heard  the  great 
things  that  the  world  does  for  a  m#an,  and  he  believes  it. 
He  wants  two  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  dollars.  That  will 
be  horses  and  houses  and  a  summer  resort  and  jolly  com- 
panionship. To  get  it,  he  parts  with  his  physical  health  by 
overwork.  He  parts  with  his  conscience.  He  parts  with 
much  domestic  enjoyment.  He  parts  with  opportunities  for 
literary  culture.  He  parts  with  his  soul.  And  so  he  makes 
over  his  entire  nature  to  the  world.  He  does  it  in  four  instal- 
ments. He  pays  down  the  first  instalment,  and  one-fourth 
of  his  nature  is  gone.  He  pays  down  the  second  instalment, 
and  one-half  of  his  nature  is  gone.  He  pays  down  the  third 
instalment,  and  three-quarters  of  his  nature  is  gone;  and 
after  many  years  have  gone  by  he  pays  down  the  fourth 

(565) 


566  SOLD   OUT   FOR  ETERNITY. 

instalment,  and,  lo!  his  entire  nature  is  gone.  Then  he 
comes  up  to  the  world  and  says:  "Good  morning.  I  have 
delivered  to  you  the  goods.  I  have  passed  over  to  you  my 
body,  my  mind,  and  my  soul,  and  I  have  come  now  to  collect 
the  two  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  dollars."  "Two  hundred 
and  fifty  thousand  dollars?"  says  the  world.  "What  do  you 
mean?"  "Well,"  you  say,  "I  come  to  collect  the  money  you 
owe  me,  and  I  expect  you  now  to  fulfil  your  part  of  the 
contract."  "But,"  says  the  world,  "I  have  failed.  I  am 
bankrupt.  I  cannot  possibly  pay  that  debt.  I  have  not  for  a 
long  while  expected  to  pay  it."  "Well,"  you  then  say,  "give 
me  back  the  goods.  "0,  no,"  says  the  world,  "they  are  all 
gone.  I  cannot  give  them  back  to  you. "  And  there  you  stand 
on  the  confines  of  eternity,  your  spiritual  character  gone, 
staggering  under  the  consideration  that  ''you  have  sold  your- 
self for  nought. " 

I  tell  you  the  world  is  a  liar;  it  does  not  keep  its  prom- 
ises. It  is  a  cheat,  and  it  fleeces  everything  it  can  put  its 
hands  on.  It  is  a  bogus  world.  It  is  a  six-thousand-year- 
old  swindle.  Even  if  it  pays  the  two  hundred  and  fifty 
thousand  dollars  for  which  you  contracted,  it  pays  them  in 
bonds  that  will  not  be  worth  anything  in  a  little  while.  Just 
as  a  man  may  pay  down  ten  thousand  dollars  in  hard  cash 
and  get  for  it  worthless  scrip,  so  the  world  passes  over  to 
you  the  two  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  dollars  in  that  shape 
which  will  not  be  worth  a  farthing  to  you  a  thousandth  part 
of  a  second  after  you  are  dead.  "  0,"  you  say,  "  it  will  help 
to  bury  me  anyhow."  0,  my  brother,  you  need  not  worry 
about  that.  The  world  will  bury  you  soon  enough,  from 
sanitary  considerations.  After  you  have  been  deceased  for 
three  or  four  days  you  will  compel  the  world  to  bury  you. 
Post  mortem  emoluments  are  of  no  use  to  you.  The  treasures 
of  this  world  will  not  pass  current  in  the  future  world ;  and 
if  all  the  wealth  of  the  Bank  of  England  were  put  in  the 
pocket  of  your  shroud,  and  you  in  the  midst  of  the  Jordan 


SOLD  OUT  FOE  ETERNITY. 


567 


of  death  were  asked  to  pay  three  cents  for  your  ferriage,  you 
could  not  do  it.  There  comes  a  moment  in  your  existence 
beyond  which  all  earthly  values  fail ;  and  many  a  man  has 
wakened  up  in  such  a  time  to  find  that  he  has  sold  out  for 
eternity,  and  has  nothing  to  show  for  it.  I  should  as  soon 
think  of  going  to  Chatham  street  to  buy  silk  pocket  handker  - 
chiefs  with  no  cotton  in  them,  as  to  go  to  this  world  expecting 
to  find  any  permanent  happiness.  It  has  deceived  and 
deluded  every  man  that  ever  put  his  trust  in  it.  History  tells 
us  of  one  who  resolved  that  he  would  have  all  his  senses 
gratified  at  one  and  the  same  time,  and  he  expended  hundreds 
of  pounds  on  each  sense.  He  entered  a  room,  and  there 
were  the  first  musicians  of  the  land  pleasing  his  ear,  and 
there  were  fine  pictures  fascinating  his  eye,  and  there  were 
costly  aromatics  regaling  the  nostril,  and  there  were  the 
richest  meats  and  wines  and  fruits  and  confections  pleasing 
the  appetite,  and  there  was  a  soft  couch  of  sinful  indulgence 
on  which  he  reclined ;  and  the  man  declared  afterward  that 
he  would  give  ten  times  what  he  had  given  if  he  could 
have  one  week  of  such  enjoyment,  even  though  he  lost  his 
soul  by  it.  Ah !  that  was  the  rub.  He  did  lose  his  soul  by 
it!  Cyrus  the  conqueror  thought  for  a  little  while  that  he 
was  making  a  fine  thing  out  of  this  world,  and  yet  before 
he  came  to  his  grave  he  wrote  out  this  pitiful  epitaph  for 
his  monument:  "I  am  Cyrus.  I  occupied  the  Persian 
Empire.  I  was  king  over  Asia.  Begrudge  me  not  this 
monument."  But  the  world  in  after  years  ploughed  up  his 
sepulcher. 

The  world  clapped  its  hands  and  stamped  its  feet  in  honor 
of  Charles  Lamb;  but  what  does  he  say?  "I  walk  up  and 
down,  thinking  I  am  happy,  but  feeling  I  am  not."  Call  the 
roll,  and  be  quick  about  it.  Samuel  Johnson,  the  learned! 
Happy?  "No.  I  am  afraid  I  shall  some  day  get  crazy." 
William  Hazlitt,  the  great  essayist !  Happy?  "No.  I  have 
been  for  two  hours  and  a  half  going  up  and  down  Pater- 


568 


SOLD  OUT  FOR  ETERNITY. 


noster  Bow  with  a  volcano  in  my  breast.* '  Smollet,  the 
witty  author!  Happy?  "No.  I  am  sick  of  praise  and 
blame,  and  I  wish  to  God  that  I  had  such  circumstances 
around  me  that  I  could  throw  my  pen  into  oblivion." 
Buchanan,  the  world-renowned  writer,  exiled  from  his  own 
country,  appealing  to  Henry  VIII.  for  protection!  Happy? 
"No.  Over  mountains  covered  with  snow,  and  through  val- 
leys flooded  with  rain,  I  come  a  fugitive."  Moliere,  the 
popular  dramatic  author!  Happy?  "No.  That  wretch  of 
an  actor  just  now  recited  four  of  my  lines  without  the  proper 
accent  and  gesture.  To  have  the  children  of  my  brain  so 
hung,  drawn  and  quartered  tortures  me  like  a  condemned 
spirit." 

I  went  to  see  a  worldling  die.  As  I  went  into  the  hall  I 
saw  its  floor  was  tesselated,  and  its  wall  was  a  picture  gal- 
lery. I  found  his  death- chamber  adorned  with  tapestry 
until  it  seemed  as  if  the  clouds  of  the  setting  sun  had  settled 
in  the  room.  That  man  had  given  forty  years  to  the  world, — 
his  wit,  his  time,  his  genius,  his  talent,  his  soul.  Did  the 
world  come  in  to  stand  by  his  death-bed,  and  clearing  orf, 
the  phials  of  bitter  medicine,  put  down  any  compensation  ? 
Oh,  no!  The  world  does  not  like  sick  and  dying  people,  and 
leaves  them  in  the  lurch.  It  ruined  this  man  and  then  left 
him.  He  had  a  magnificent  funeral.  All  the  ministers  wore 
scarfs,  and  there  were  forty-three  carriages  in  a  row;  but  the 
departed  man  appreciated  not  the  obsequies. 

I  want  to  persuade  my  readers  that  this  world  is  a  poor 
investment;  that  it  does  not  pay  ninety  per  cent  of  satisfac- 
tion, nor  eighty  per  cent,  nor  twenty  per  cent,  nor  two 
per  cent,  nor  one ;  that  it  gives  no  solace  when  a  dead  babe 
lies  on  your  lap;  that  it  gives  no  peace  when  conscience  rings 
its  alarm ;  that  it  gives  no  explanation  in  the  day  of  dire 
trouble ;  and  at  the  time  of  your  decease  it  takes  hold  of  the 
pillow-case  and  shakes  out  the  feathers,  and  then  jolts  down 
in  the  place  thereof  sighs  and  groans  and  execrations,  and 


SOLD  OUT  FOR  ETERNITY. 


569 


then  makes  you  put  your  head  on  it.  0,  ye  who  have  tried 
this  world,  is  it  a  satisfactory  portion?  Would  you  advise 
your  friends  to  make  the  investment?  No.  "Ye  have  sold 
yourselves  for  nought."  Your  conscience  went.  Your  hope 
went.  Your  Bible  went.  Your  heaven  went.  Your  God 
went.  When  a  sheriff  under  a  writ  from  the  court  sells  a 
man  out,  the  officer  generally  leaves  a  few  chairs  and  a  bed, 
and  a  few  cups  and  knives;  but  in  this  awful  vendue  in 
which  you  have  been  engaged,  the  auctioneer's  mallet  has 
°ome  down  upon  body,  mind  and  soul:  Going!  Gone! 
"Ye  have  sold  yourselves  for  nought."  How  could  you  do 
so?  Did  you  think  that  your  soul  was  a  mere  trinket  which 
for  a  few  pennies  you  could  buy  in  a  toy  shop?  Did  you 
think  that  your  soul,  if  once  lost,  might  be  found  again  if 
you  went  out  with  torches  and  lanterns?  Did  you  think 
that  your  soul  was  short-lived,  and  that,  panting,  it  would 
soon  lie  down  for  extinction?  Or  had  you  no  idea  what  your 
soul  was  worth?  Did  you  ever  put  your  forefinger  on  its 
eternal  pulses?  Have  you  never  felt  the  quiver  of  its  peer- 
less wing?  Have  you  not  known  that,  after  leaving  the 
body,  the  first  step  of  your  soul  reaches  to  the  stars,  and  the 
next  step  to  the  farthest  outposts  of  God's  universe;  and 
that  it  will  not  die  until  in  the  day  when  the  everlasting 
Jehovah  expires?  0,  my  brother,  what  possessed  you  that 
you  should  part  with  your  soul  so  cheap,  6 ' Ye  have  sold  your- 
selves for  nought." 

But  I  have  some  good  news  to  tell  you.  I  want  to  engage 
in  a  litigation  for  the  recovery  of  that  soul  of  yours.  I  want  to 
show  you  that  you  have  been  cheated  out  of  it.  I  want  to 
prove,  as  I  will,  that  you  were  crazy  on  that  subject,  and  that 
the  world,  under  such  circumstances,  had  no  right  to  take  the 
title  deed  from  you;  and,  if  you  will  join  me,  I  shall  get  a  de- 
cree from  the  High  Chancery  Court  of  Heaven,  reinstating  you 
into  the  possession  of  your  soul.  "Oh,"  you  say,  "  I  am  afraid 
of  lawsuits;  they  are  so  expensive,  and  I  cannot  pay  the  cost," 


570 


SOLD  OUT  FOR  ETERNITS 


Then  have  you  forgotten  the  last  half  of  the  sentence,  "Ye 
shall  be  redeemed  without  money"  ?  Money  is  good  for  a  great 
many  things,  but  it  cannot  do  anything  in  this  matter  of  the 
soul.  You  cannot  buy  your  way  through.  Dollars  and  pounds 
sterling  mean  nothing  at  the  gate  of  mercy.  If  you  could 
buy  your  salvation,  heaven  would  be  a  great  speculation, — a  n 
extension  of  Wall  street.  Bad  men  would  go  up  and  buy  out 
the  place,  and  leave  us  to  shift  for  ourselves.  But  as  money 
is  not  a  lawful  tender,  what  is  it?  I  will  answer:  Blood! 
"Whose?  Are  we  to  go  through  the  slaughter?  Oh,  no;  it 
wants  richer  blood  than  ours.  It  wants  a  King's  blood.  It 
must  be  poured  from  royal  arteries.  It  must  be  a  sinless  tor- 
rent. But  where  is  the  King?  I  see  a  great  many  thrones 
and  a  great  many  occupants,  yet  none  seem  to  be  coming  down 
to  the  rescue.  But  after  awhile  the  clock  of  night  in  Bethle- 
hem strikes  midnight,  and  the  silver  pendulum  of  a  star  swings 
across  the  sky,  and  I  see  the  King  of  Heaven  rising  up,  and 
He  descends  and  steps  down  from  star  to  star  and  from  cloud 
to  cloud,  lower  and  lower  until  He  touches  the  sheep-covered 
hills,  and  then  on  to  another  hill,  this  last  skull-covered,  and 
there,  at  the  sharp  stroke  of  persecution,  a  rill  incarnadine 
trickles  down,  and  we  who  could  not  be  redeemed  by  money 
are  redeemed  by  precious  and  imperial  blood. 

We  have  in  this  day  professed  Christians  who  are  so  rare- 
fied and  etherialized  that  they  do  not  want  a  religion  of  blood. 
What  do  they  want?  They  seem  to  want  a  religion  of  brain. 
The  Bible  says:  "In  the  blood  is  the  life."  No  atonement 
without  blood.  Ought  not  the  apostle  to  know?  What  did  he 
say?  "Ye  are  redeemed  not  with  corruptible  things,  such 
as  silver  and  gold;  but  by  the  precious  blood  of  Christ." 
You  put  your  lancet  into  the  arm  of  our  holy  religion  and 
withdraw  the  blood,  and  you  leave  it  a  mere  corpse,  fit  only 
for  the  grave.  Why  did  God  command  the  priests  of  old  to 
strike  the  knife  into  the  kid  and  the  goat  and  the  pigeon  and 
he  bullock  and  the  lamb?    It  was  so  that  when  the  blood 


SOLD  OUT  FOR  ETERNITY. 


571 


rushed  out  from  these  animals  on  the  floor  of  the  ancient 
tabernacle,  the  people  should  be  compelled  to  think  of  the 
coming  carnage  of  the  Son  of  God.  No  blood,  no  atonement. 
I  think  that  God  intended  to  impress  us  with  the  vividness  of 
that  color.  The  green  of  the  grass,  the  blue  of  the  sky,  would 
not  have  startled  and  aroused  us  like  this  deep  crimson.  It  is 
as  if  God  had  said:  "Now,  sinner,  wake  up  and  see  what  the 
Saviour  endured  for  you.  This  is  not  water.  This  is  not 
wine.  It  is  blood.  It  is  the  blood  of  my  own  Son.  It  is  the 
blood  of  the  Immaculate.  It  is  the  blood  of  a  God."  With- 
out the  shedding  of  blood  is  no  remission.  There  has  been 
many  a  man  who  in  courts  of  law  has  plead  "not  guilty,"  who 
nevertheless  has  been  condemned,  because  there  was  blood 
found  on  his  hands,  or  blood  found  in  his  room;  and  what 
shall  we  do  on  the  last  day  if  it  be  found  that  we  have  re-cruci- 
fied the  Lord  of  Glory  and  have  never  repented  of  it?  You 
must  believe  in  the  blood  or  die.  No  escape.  Unless  you  let 
the  sacrifice  of  Jesus  Christ  go  in  your  stead,  you  yourself 
must  suffer.    It  is  either  Christ's  blood  or  your  blood. 

"Oh,"  says  some  one,  "the  thought  of  blood  sickens  me." 
Good.  God  intended  it  to  sicken  you  with  your  sin.  Do  not 
act  as  though  you  had  nothing  to  do  with  the  Calvarean  mass- 
acre. You  had.  Your  sins  were  the  implements  of  torture. 
Those  implements  were  not  made  out  of  steel  and  iron  and 
wood  so  much  as  out  of  your  sins.  Guilty  of  this  homicide 
and  this  regicide  and  this  deicide,  confess  your  guilt.  Ten 
thousand  voices  of  heaven  bring  in  the  verdict  against  you  of 
guilty,  guilty.  Prepare  to  die  or  believe  in  that  blood.  Stretch 
yourself  out  for  the  sacrifice,  or  accept  the  Saviour's  sacrifice. 
Do  not  fling  away  your  one  chance.  It  seems  to  me  as  if  all 
heaven  were  trying  to  bid  in  your  soul.  The  first  bid  it  makes 
is  the  tears  of  Christ  at  the  tomb  of  Lazarus ;  but  that  is  not 
a  high  enough  price.  The  next  bid  heaven  makes  is  the 
sweat  of  Gethsemane ;  but  it  is  too  cheap  a  price.  The  next 
bid  heaven  makes  seems  to  be  the  whipped  back  of  Pilate'® 


572 


SOLD  OUT  FOR  ETERNITY. 


hall;  but  it  is  not  a  high  enough  price.  Can  it  be  possible 
that  heaven  cannot  buy  you  in?  Heaven  tries  once  more.  It 
says:  "Ibid  this  time  for  that  man's  soul  the  tortures  of 
Christ's  martyrdom,  the  blood  on  His  temple,  the  blood  on 
His  cheek,  the  blood  on  His  chin,  the  blood  on  His  hand,  the 
blood  on  His  side,  the  blood  on  His  knee,  the  blood  on  His 
foot;  the  blood  in  drops,  the  blood  in  rills,  the  blood  in  pools 
coagulated  beneath  the  cross ;  the  blood  that  wet  the  tips  of 
the  soldiers'  spears ;  the  blood  that  splashed  warm  in  the  faces 
of  His  enemies."  Glory  to  God,  that  bid  wins  it!  The  high- 
est price  that  was  ever  paid  for  anything  was  paid  for  your 
soul.  Nothing  could  buy  it  but  blood !  The  estranged  prop- 
erty is  bought  back.  Take  it.  "  Ye  have  sold  yourselves  for 
nought;  and  ye  shall  be  redeemed  without  money."  Oh, 
atoning  blood,  cleansing  blood,  life-giving  blood,  sanctifying 
blood,  glorifying  blood  of  Jesus !  Why  not  burst  into  tears 
at  the  thought  that  for  thee  He  shed  it?  For  thee  the  hard- 
hearted, for  thee  the  lost. 

"No,"  says  some  one,  "I  will  have  nothing  to  do  with  it 
except  that,  like  the  Jews,  I  put  both  my  hands  into  that 
carnage  and  scoop  up  both  palms  full  and  then  throw  it  on  my 
head  and  cry:  4  His  blood  be  on  us  and  on  our  children!' " 
Can  you  do  such  a  shocking  thing  as  that?  Just  rub  your 
handkerchief  across  your  brow  and  look  at  it.  It  is  the  blood 
of  the  Son  of  God  whom  you  have  despised  and  driven  back 
all  these  years.  Oh,  do  not  do  that  any  longer.  Come  out 
frankly  and  boldly  and  honestly  and  tell  Christ  you  are  sorry. 
You  cannot  afford  to  so  roughly  treat  Him  upon  whom  every- 
thing depends.  I  do  not  know  how  you  will  get  away  from 
this  subject.  You  see  that  you  are  sold  out  and  that  Christ 
wants  to  buy  you  back.  There  are  three  persons  who  come 
after  you :  God  the  Father,  God  the  Son  and  God  the  Holy 
Ghost.  They  unite  their  three  omnipotences  in  one  movement 
for  your  salvation.  You  will  not  take  up  arms  against  the 
Triune  God,  will  you?    Is  there  enough  muscle  in  your  arm 


SOLD  OUT  FOR  ETERNITY. 


573 


for  such  a  combat?  By  the  highest  throne  in  heaven  and  by 
the  deepest  chasm  in  hell,  I  beg  you  to  look  out.  Unless  you 
allow  Christ  to  carry  away  your  sins,  they  will  carry  you 
away.  Unless  you  allow  Christ  to  lift  you  up,  they  will  drag 
you  down.  There  is  only  one  hope  for  you,  and  that  is  the 
blood.  Christ,  the  sin-offering,  bearing  your  transgressions. 
Christ,  the  surety,  paying  your  debts.  Christ,  the  divine 
Cyrus,  loosening  your  Babylonish  captivity.  Would  you  like 
to  be  free  ?  Here  is  the  price  of  your  liberation — not  money, 
but  blood.  I  tremble  from  head  to  foot,  because  I  fear  that 
you  will  miss  your  chance  for  immortal  rescue,  and  die.  This 
is  the  alternative,  divinely  put:  "He  that  belie veth  on  the 
Son,  shall  have  everlasting  life,  and  he  that  belie  veth  not  on 
the  Son  shall  not  see  life,  but  the  wrath  of  God  abideth  on 
him."  In  the  last  day,  if  you  now  reject  Christ,  every  drop 
of  that  sacrificial  blood,  instead  of  pleading  for  your  release, 
as  it  would  have  plead  if  you  had  repented,  will  plead  against 
you.  It  will  seem  to  say:  "They  refused  the  ransom;  they 
chose  to  die ;  let  them  die ;  they  must  die.  Down  with  them 
to  the  weeping  and  the  wailing.  Depart,  go  away  from  me. 
You  would  not  have  me,  now  I  will  not  have  you.  Sold  out 
for  eternity." 

0  Lord  God  of  the  judgment  day,  avert  that  calamity  ! 
Let  us  see  the  quick  flash  of  the  scimitar  that  slays  the  sin, 
but  saves  the  sinner.  Strike!  Omnipotent  God,  for  the  soul's 
deliverance!  Beat,  0  eternal  sea,  with  all  thy  waves,  against 
the  barren  beach  of  that  rocky  soul,  and  make  it  tremble!  Oh! 
oppressiveness  of  the  hour,  the  minute,  the  second,  on  which 
the  soul's  destiny  quivers,  and  the  present  is  that  hour,  that 
minute,  that  second!  I  wonder  what  proportion  of  this  world 
will  be  saved?    What  proportion  will  be  lost? 

Some  years  ago  there  came  down  a  fierce  storm  on  the  sea 
coast,  and  a  vessel  got  in  the  breakers  and  was  going  to 
pieces.  They  threw  up  some  signal  of  distress,  and  the  people 
on  the  shore  saw  them.    They  put  out  in  a  life-boat.  They 


574 


SOLD  OUT  FOR  ETERNITY. 


came  on,  and  they  saw  the  poor  sailors,  almost  exhausted, 
clinging  to  a  raft ;  and  so  afraid  were  the  boatmen  that  the 
men  would  give  up  before  they  got  to  them,  that  they  gave 
them  three  rounds  of  rousing  cheers  and  cried:  "Hold  on 
there!  Hold  on!  We'll  save  you!"  After  awhile  the  boat 
came  up.  One  man  was  saved  by  having  the  boat-hook  put 
in  the  collar  of  his  coat;  and  some  in  one  way  and  some  in 
another;  but  they  all  got  into  the  boat.  "Now,"  says  the 
captain,  "  for  the  shore.  Pull  away  now!  pull!"  The  people 
on  the  land  were  afraid  the  life -boat  had  gone  down.  They 
said:  "How  long  the  boat  stays.  Why,  it  must  have  been 
swamped,  and  they  have  all  perished  together."  And  there 
were  men  and  women  on  the  pier-heads  and  on  the  beach, 
wringing  their  hands;  and  while  they  waited  and  watched, 
they  saw  something  looming  up  through  the  mist,  and  it 
turned  out  to  be  the  life-boat.  As  soon  as  it  came  within 
speaking  distance  the  people  on  the  shore  cried  out:  "Did 
you  save  any  of  them?  Did  you  save  any  of  them?''  And  as 
the  boat  swept  through  the  boiling  surf  and  came  to  the  pier- 
head, the  captain  waved  his  hand  over  the  exhausted  sailors 
that  lay  flat  on  the  bottom  of  the  boat  and  cried:  "All 
saved !  Thank  God !  All  saved !  "  So  may  it  be  with  you. 
The  waves  of  sin  run  high,  the  storm  is  on  you,  the  danger  is 
appalling.  0  shipwrecked  soul,  I  have  come  for  you.  I 
cheer  you  with  this  Gospel  hope.  God  grant  that  we  may 
row  with  you  into  the  harbor  of  God's  mercy.  And  when 
Christian  men  gather  around  to  see  the  result,  and  the  glori- 
fied gather  on  the  pier-heads  of  heaven  to  watch  and  to  listen, 
may  we  be  able  to  report  all  saved!  Young  and  old,  good 
and  bad !  All  saved !  Saved  from  sin  and  death  and  hell. 
Saved  for  time.    Saved  for  eternity. 


■  -1>  ■ 


^3$ 


ill 


RSI 


fig 


m, 


